'Kaisari tumempa yake na yetu anaipora'-Vitali Maembe

By +Caroline Anande Uliwa

Vitali Maembe in his hometown Bagamoyo, captured a few moments
after I interviewed him

With each note the invitation to offload, to return to bliss has your mind on awkward mistrust as your feet quickly catch on. Making rhythmic footprints as the spell continues to allow you to belong. Such was the experience of listening to the music of Vitali Maembe, recently in concert at Bagamoyo.

Vitali Maembe captured with my phone :)
while performing at this year's Ongala Music
Festival in Bagamoyo

On seeing him perform I got inspired to seek him out and learn more; for he is of that unique breed the kind that walks towards fire when others are running from it. Despite being arrested and detained several times (he has never been charged) in his career of over two decades. Vitali has not stopped speaking truth to power in his music “I am not a soldier, I am not a rebel just a fighter, I fight alone with my music to save my people” lyrics from Vitali’s song ‘NchiYangu (Kinoo)’.

Indeed his lyrics which call out corruption, asking leaders to account for the social political ills in society. Have landed Vitali on uncomfortable territory with the authorities; stints like the case when he performed in the region of Kagera back in 2012. Which saw him being kicked off stage by the police where he was then ordered to leave the region within 12 hrs have been common place in his career. “As I advertise my shows before hand, they would know where and when to come, many times in the big cities. I’ll be accosted by the police after the show, otherwise like in Kiteto in Manyara I get pulled off the stage during the show.”

On asking why then he is propelled to sing of socio economic or political issues, when they so obviously get him in trouble he replies. “First off you can’t run from politics…when I sing about youths business failing or the dispensary having no medicine or that road being horrible. I am not talking politics bare in mind our national anthem says ‘Wabariki viongozi wetu’. How can we bless our leaders if we don’t tell them the truth?”

In the course of our interview off hand Vitali in his kinship to music picks up his guitar and starts crooning. ‘Kaisari tumempa yake na yetu anaipora-We’ve given the Kaizer his, he steals ours too’.Vitali 43, is a native of the Pwani region ofTanzania, in his early twenties (early 2000’s) he trained at TaSuBa (Bagamoyo College of Arts) in fine art, traditional dance and music Vitali Maembe artwork 'Elimu'. Musically it is his skill with the guitar and relatable tongue in cheek lyrics that set him apart. His music while holding the possibility of African rhythmic beats maintains a lulling melody reminiscent of countrymusic, perhaps it’s in the ‘afro country’ genre.

To date Vitali Maembe has five albums to his belt including Bagamoyo 2004, Imbila 2007, Chanjo 2010, Liberation 2013, Vuma 2016 and his latest Kichaa Karudi 2018. He is an independent artist who gets support from donors here and there but mainly pushes his work by his own efforts. In this he faces challenges in gaining more support from music stakeholders like promoters who fear to attract hostility from authorities.

In his community Vitali is known for his generosity with his talents. Since his late teens he has been rounding youths at first from his own football club, while he was living in Dar es Salaam. Then when he moved to Bagamoyo the initiative now called ‘Jua Art Foundation’ took root with youths he rounded from the streets. Jua has taught dozens & dozens of artists providing them employable skills including his own son currently in secondary school; who plays the guitar much like his father.

Among the artists benefiting from this program include the Ze Spirits Band http://zespirits.com/about/, who have toured extensively in the region after being launched with the support of the British Council. Many other artists who have passed through ‘Jua Art Foundation’ are now with sustainable careers abroad like Amiri Matiga who works for Disney in the USA.

Vitali himself doesn’t prefer to work abroad for long; he loves his home despite that mainstream media in the country censors a lot of his music as authorities discourage the stations from playing the same. Though you can still hear few of his old singles like ‘sumu ya teja’ being played on radio. He recalls being quite disheartened last year when he tried to renew his art license from BASATA-Tanzania Art Council. They refused it to him citing the orders came from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, alleging he was mentally disturbed. When he asked to have the same in writing, todate he hasn’t received this document or his license. It’s this saga that inspired the title of his latest album ‘Kichaa Amerudi’ translating ‘the crazy one is back’.

However this hasn’t stopped Vitali’s efforts to speak his mind just March this year he held a concert called ‘Sikia Raisi’ translating ‘Listen President’. It packed the venue of TaSuBa in Bagamoyo, prior to the show he had written a letter to the President Vitali Maembe's letter to the President 2019. In this letter he congratulates the President on the good he has done as well he requests for his safety The letter reports that he has been beaten by police and denied medical help and is finding his patriotism put to the ultimate test.

A little prior to the show Vitali says he was called by a representative of the government and asked not to sing certain songs in his repertoire like ‘Walete’. Perhaps the letter did reach the President as since March this year Vitali hasn’t been harassed by the authorities.

Vitali is well respected by his peers indeed he is experienced and talented.

Music professionals from Norway were so awed by his style that he was invited to the country to teach for a year.“I met these music researchers from the University of Adger in Norway…they marveled at my music. Sometimes I play a few chords but also where I start to sing isn’t where many musicians choose to start. It’s like I am starting off…” Vitali shares.

Vitali has performed in several countries including Germany, Switzerland, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Norway, Sweden and Hungary. Recently in Oct last year he was called by the Sahrawi people of Western Sahara to perform in their efforts to get the UN’s assistance to help secure their independence. You can listen to some of Vitali’s music here Vitali Maembe Music on SoundClick or follow him on social media to learn more.

This article was first published in The EastAfrican Newspaper with this link https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/Singing-the-truth-can-be-dangerous/434746-5272342-6vm8dcz/index.html