Following Tanganyika’s independence (1961) and unification with Zanzibar (1964), leading to the formation of the state of Tanzania, President Julius Nyerere emphasized a need to construct a national identity for the citizens of the new country. To achieve this, Nyerere provided what has been regarded by some commentators as one of the most successful cases of ethnic repression and identity transformation in Africa.
With over 130 ethnic groups and local languages spoken, Tanzania is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Africa. Despite this, ethnic divisions have remained rare in Tanzania, especially when compared to the rest of the continent. A total of 130 languages are spoken in Tanzania; most of them are from the Bantu family. Swahili and English are the two official languages of Tanzania. However, Swahili is the national language.
Music
Music in Tanzania is going through changes, and varies by location, people, settings and occasion. The five music genres in Tanzania, as defined by BASATA are, Ngoma, Dansi, Kwaya, and Taarab, with bongo flava added in 2001. Singeli has since the mid- 2000’s been an unofficial music of uswahilini, unplanned communities in Dar es Salaam, and is the newest mainstream genre since 2020.
Ngoma, a Bantu word, meaning dance, drum and event is a traditional dance music that has been the most widespread music in Tanzania. Dansi is urban jazz or band music. Taarab is sung Kiswahili poetry accompanied by a band, typically with strings and percussion, in which the audience is often, but not always, encouraged to dance and clap. Kwaya is choir music originally limited to church services during colonization, but now a secular part of education, social, and political events.
Bongo flava is Tanzanian pop music originating in the early 2000s from Muziki wa Kizazi Kipya, meaning “Music of the new generation”, which originated in the late 1980s. Kizazi Kipya’s dominant influences were Reggae, RnB, and hip hop, whereas the later bongo flava’s dominant influences are taarab and dansi. Three recent influences on bongo flava are Afropop in the 2010’s, as well as amapiano from South Africa and singeli from Tanzania, both since 2020. Singeli is a ngoma music style that originated in Manzese, a uswahilini in north-west Dar es Salaam. An MC performs over fast tempo taarab music, often at between 200-300 beats per minute (BPM) while females dance. Styles differ significantly between MC genders. Male MCs usually perform in fast paced rap, while female MCs usually perform Kwaya.
In the few years prior to 1993, hip hop had been established in Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Mwanza. It was transitioning from English performances of hip hop originating in uzunguni, rich areas like Oysterbay and Msasaki with international schools, to Kiswahili performances of kizazi kipya, originating in uswahilini. Following airtime on radio waves, bongo flava spread throughout the country, and the rest of the Great Lakes.
Cuisine
Traditional Tanzanian food consisting of pilau kuku (seasoned rice with chicken), mishkaki (grilled meat), ndizi (plantain), maharage (beans), mboga (vegetables), chapati (flatbread) and pili pili (hot sauce) and Barbecued beef cubes and seafood in Forodhani Gardens, Zanzibar.
Along the coastal regions (Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Bagamoyo, Zanzibar, and Pemba), spicy foods are common, and there is also much use of coconut milk. Some typical mainland Tanzanian foods include wali (rice), ugali (maize porridge), nyama choma (grilled meat), mshikaki (marinated beef), samaki (fish), pilau (rice mixed with a variety of spices), biriyani, and ndizi – nyama (plantains with meat).
Vegetables commonly used in Tanzania include bamia (okra) which is mostly eaten as a stew or prepared into traditional stew called mlenda, mchicha (amaranthus tricolor), njegere (green peas), maharage (beans), and kisamvu (cassava leaves). Tanzania grows at least 17 different types of bananas which are used for soup, stew, and chips. Some breakfast foods typically seen in Tanzania are maandazi (fried doughnut), chai (tea), chapati (a kind of flat bread), porridge, and especially in rural areas chipsi mayai.
Tanzanian snack foods include visheti, kashata (coconut bars), kabaab (kebab), sambusa (samosa), mkate wa kumimina (Zanzibari rice bread), vileja, vitumbua (rice patties), and bagia. Since a large community of Indians have migrated into Tanzania, a considerable proportion of the cuisine has been influenced by Indian cuisine.