UCLA

In this dissertation, I situate the term “bongo flava” as way to understand the various intersections of popular music and politics in Tanzania. I discuss two distinct yet related genres of popular music in this regard – Tanzanian hip hop and pop music, known today as bongo flava. When the term bongo flava was coined in the 1990s, it was originally a form of hip hop, sonically and extra-sonically. More specifically, bongo flava was a way for citizens to provide a critique of the state, and an expos� of the problems that said citizens face. However, the paths of hip hop and pop music in Tanzania, once intertwined eachother, have now become separate in today’s muscial landscape. Both Tanzanian hip hop and bongo flava today have an interest in politics; politics, or siasa in Swahili, is a loaded term, whose definition changes based on who is speaking about it. For many rappers in the Tanzanian hip hop underground, politics is disconnected from the lives of regular citizens, and so these rappers understand themselves as representing the “true” lives of Tanzanians. This can be understood as a continuation of the original social critique that was present in bongo flava in the 1990s. Bongo flava, as pop music today, is a genre deeply intertwined with the politicking of the ruling political party in Tanzania, provides a different and competing version of reality that directly colludes with the government. For both muscial worlds, social media is a place to promote one’s culture, whether that be through directly selling underground rap tapes to fans via Instagram, or advertising a sold out stadium show as a bongo flava pop star. Additionally, in both of these worlds, there is a representation of ideal masculinity by artists in these spaces. It is through proper masculinity performances that these artists can earn political legitimacy, broadly defined. Bongo flava has been previously understood to represent Tanzanian hip hop only. However, this dissertation seeks to expand the definition of bongo flava to mean a political ethos of survival, a representation of Tanzania on the international scale, a popular music aesthetic, and a way to critique the Tanzanian government. Ultimately, this dissertation argues for the term bongo flava to represent the way popular music as a whole interacts with Tanzanian political life.