Tuzo za Kili Music Awards zilifanyika jana na msanii 20% aliibuka kidedea kwa kubeba jumlaya tuzo 5. Kusema ukweli kwangu mimi ilikuwa mara ya kwanza kulisikia hilo jina, kwahiyo nikaamua nitafute nyimbo zake. Kumbe ni msanii wa siku nyingi na nyimbo zake nilikuwa nshawahi kuzisikia ila basi tu jina halikunikaa kichwani. Kuna nyimbo moja hasahasa ambayo ulinikuna sana, inaitwa Maisha ya bongo, fungua boneti uicheki hapo chini....Hizi si nyimbo zilizompatia tunzo hizo tano, ila ni nyimbo ambazo mimi binafsi nimezipenda, hasahasa ujumbe wake...
Saturday 26 March 2011
Wednesday 2 March 2011
Maulid Celebrations - Video
A beautiful Madeh from the Maulid celebrations I attended recently. Mashallah the brothers sang beautifully and I thought i'd just share it with you all. Enjoy!
Tuesday 1 March 2011
Watoto from the Nile - Letter to Lil Wayne
Watch how a 10 year old goes hard on Lil Wayne about his degradation of black women. I came across this video randomly and thought it was kinda cute, strong words from a 10 year old. Lil Wayne better heed their advice.
Tuesday 22 February 2011
Kulipuka kwa mabomu Gongo Lamboto!!
Ningekuwa mtovu wa nidhamu kama ningewacha tukio kubwa kama hili lipite bila kutamka lolote. Kwanza ningependa kutoa pole kwa wadau wote walioathirika na kulipuka kwa mabomu hayo huko Gongolamboto. Mwenyezi Mungu awapunguzie mitihani na awape nguvu, uvumilivu na faraja katika wakati huu mgumu.
Swahili-vibes ingependa kutoa ombi kwa serikali ya Jamhuri ya Tanzania
Swahili-vibes ingependa kutoa ombi kwa serikali ya Jamhuri ya Tanzania
Monday 21 February 2011
Tanzania Canadian Association's 20th Anniversary
On Saturday Feb 19th 2011m the Tanzanian Canadian Association was celebrating 20th anniversary. To grace this momentous occasion, the Tanzania Ambassador in Canada Mr. Alexander Massinda and the Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford were in attendance.
In short the event was a huge success in my opinion. The venue, although difficult to get to due to it being located at the back of the mall (perhaps next time the organisers could include a little snipet of a map?) was very beautiful. The food was also amazing and the Master of ceremony did a great job of keeping us entertained while making sure the proceedings were progressing swiftly and in an appropriate manner.
I gotta hand it to all in attendance, y'all looked amazing..Thanks to my colleagues, I have a few photos to show, pop the hood for more..
In short the event was a huge success in my opinion. The venue, although difficult to get to due to it being located at the back of the mall (perhaps next time the organisers could include a little snipet of a map?) was very beautiful. The food was also amazing and the Master of ceremony did a great job of keeping us entertained while making sure the proceedings were progressing swiftly and in an appropriate manner.
I gotta hand it to all in attendance, y'all looked amazing..Thanks to my colleagues, I have a few photos to show, pop the hood for more..
My Apologies
My apologies dear readers for the lack of new posts in the last month or so. Will try and cope better with the worldly responsibilities/issues that have crossed my path.
We have quite alot to catch up on...stay tuned.
We have quite alot to catch up on...stay tuned.
Sunday 9 January 2011
What's in a Name?
I had this wonderful experience that I'd like to share with you all. My laptop wasn't booting up (partly reason for my lack of updates on the blog) so I decided to take it to the Apple store at Yorkdale (a popular mall here in Toronto) to see if they could sort out whatever the problem was. The store was packed and I had a number of errands to run on this particular day, so I was determined to have my issue sorted out as soon as possible. Accompanying me was my brother in law who is staying with us for the winter, so as soon as we step into the store, I look for an assistant who is available and see this lovely looking lady who seemed like she was looking for someone to assist. So I quickly rush up to her with a look of urgency on my face, "Hi how can I help you" she asks, "Hi, I'm having issues with my laptop and was wondering if I could see someone at the Genius Bar for assistance" I said. All the time observing her as she held an Ipad close to her chest, thinking wow, i want an Ipad. "Oh sure, I can arrange that for you, have you been to out Genius Bar before?" " No ...."OK, I'll just need a few details before I can book you in, what's your name?"....Rama "and your last name"....Ponda, that's P.O.N..."Ponda!! she exclaims with an inquisitive look on her face, "where are you guys from?" she asks, we're from Tanzania..."jamani msiniambie nyie wenzangu" she said with a wonderful smile on her face, the look of someone who was genuinely happy to see people from her home country Tanzania. In the meantime I'm thinking...wow, what are the chances of that happening, I mean the store had about 20 assistants on the shop floor at that moment, and I choose the only one from Tanzania!!
Friday 24 December 2010
Thought of the Day - Is Being African = Being Backward?
Growing up in a typical African family where my dad was the main bread winner and my mom was a home maker, I naturally aspire to have all that goodness I experienced as a child with my family, you know, all that good stuff, always having extended family around, plenty of food in the house all the time, just in case. I want to keep all the good things that I experienced, saw and loved as a child and learn to steer away from the things that I saw/experienced that perhaps I shouldn't have.
This is how the family dynamics were as seen through the retina of a 7-8 year old. My mum was an amazing cook, and still is by the way, each and everyday she would concoct some amazing dish and have it ready for my father for when he got back from work. Usually this would be way past my bedtime, and being the stubborn son I was, I would always insist on waiting for my dad before I went to sleep, and then proceed to pass out by the couch day in day out. Even when we had helpers or housemaids (quite a common phenomenon in Tanzania by the way), my mom would never have my dad's food prepared by the house helper, she took it upon herself to cook and was proud of the fact that only she had the privileges of cooking for her beloved husband. How amazing was that?
I also loved the fact that by being a stay at home mom, she really took the time to bond with me, her last son. Each day we would spend at least an hour going through my homework together, and bless her she was very patient. I must have red the little red lorry about a million times without really understanding what it meant, (it was after all in English!) but eventually the effort paid off and my performances at elementary school dramatically improved. I loved the fact that she was able to spend so much time with me. I also loved the fact that on the few occasions that my dad was around, you could actually speak to him, watch Tom and Jerry cartoons together and actually have fun, a far cry from the experiences of most of my friends who were petrified of their fathers. Mind you, joking and having fun with my dad didn't mean he would go easy on you if you messed up, he would just as easily whip you like you were adopted and the following day still sit down and watch cartoons with you. I remember once he asked me to read the little red lorry, but not in the usual way that my mother always did, he started in the middle of the book, now I had memorized the book but only if I started reading from the beginning! after finding out that I still could not read he proceeded to show mum how to teach me to read...to cut a long story short I'm still traumatised to this day, my dad Mr. Ponda would not last 5 minutes as an elementary school teacher, bless him, he has the patience of a mosquito!
We were very close knit as a family unit, we were blessed to be able to experience traveling as a family, weekly outings as a family, we did everything together as much as we could. As a result even today, we can't bare be apart form each other and when we are all together, there is always an excuse for a celebration.
Today I find myself in a society in which most of the things I experienced as a young African boy are deemed backward and old fashioned. I'm often told, "you are now in Europe/North America, you have to adjust yourself and leave those backward ways". It's funny because I don't consider myself backward at all, I'm just against the idea that everything traditional is backward and everything adopted from the western world is current and thus better. Rather than follow blindly, why don't we combine the beauty of both cultures, without painting everything with one brush! No culture is perfect let's not get brainwashed into hating ourselves and where we come from, for something that we will never truly be a part of, no matter how modern you think you are. I think it's fair to say that there are quite a few of us Africans in the diaspora who, as a result of being so anxious to "fit in" denounce everything about our culture only to realise down the line that as much as you dress and talk like your adopted culture, you will never be considered on of them, as a result you end up being caught in the middle, not an African and not a European/American.
Just a thought
This is how the family dynamics were as seen through the retina of a 7-8 year old. My mum was an amazing cook, and still is by the way, each and everyday she would concoct some amazing dish and have it ready for my father for when he got back from work. Usually this would be way past my bedtime, and being the stubborn son I was, I would always insist on waiting for my dad before I went to sleep, and then proceed to pass out by the couch day in day out. Even when we had helpers or housemaids (quite a common phenomenon in Tanzania by the way), my mom would never have my dad's food prepared by the house helper, she took it upon herself to cook and was proud of the fact that only she had the privileges of cooking for her beloved husband. How amazing was that?
I also loved the fact that by being a stay at home mom, she really took the time to bond with me, her last son. Each day we would spend at least an hour going through my homework together, and bless her she was very patient. I must have red the little red lorry about a million times without really understanding what it meant, (it was after all in English!) but eventually the effort paid off and my performances at elementary school dramatically improved. I loved the fact that she was able to spend so much time with me. I also loved the fact that on the few occasions that my dad was around, you could actually speak to him, watch Tom and Jerry cartoons together and actually have fun, a far cry from the experiences of most of my friends who were petrified of their fathers. Mind you, joking and having fun with my dad didn't mean he would go easy on you if you messed up, he would just as easily whip you like you were adopted and the following day still sit down and watch cartoons with you. I remember once he asked me to read the little red lorry, but not in the usual way that my mother always did, he started in the middle of the book, now I had memorized the book but only if I started reading from the beginning! after finding out that I still could not read he proceeded to show mum how to teach me to read...to cut a long story short I'm still traumatised to this day, my dad Mr. Ponda would not last 5 minutes as an elementary school teacher, bless him, he has the patience of a mosquito!
We were very close knit as a family unit, we were blessed to be able to experience traveling as a family, weekly outings as a family, we did everything together as much as we could. As a result even today, we can't bare be apart form each other and when we are all together, there is always an excuse for a celebration.
Today I find myself in a society in which most of the things I experienced as a young African boy are deemed backward and old fashioned. I'm often told, "you are now in Europe/North America, you have to adjust yourself and leave those backward ways". It's funny because I don't consider myself backward at all, I'm just against the idea that everything traditional is backward and everything adopted from the western world is current and thus better. Rather than follow blindly, why don't we combine the beauty of both cultures, without painting everything with one brush! No culture is perfect let's not get brainwashed into hating ourselves and where we come from, for something that we will never truly be a part of, no matter how modern you think you are. I think it's fair to say that there are quite a few of us Africans in the diaspora who, as a result of being so anxious to "fit in" denounce everything about our culture only to realise down the line that as much as you dress and talk like your adopted culture, you will never be considered on of them, as a result you end up being caught in the middle, not an African and not a European/American.
Just a thought
Tuesday 7 December 2010
Hajj Pictures - 2010
I received this amazing set of pics from a generous reader...thanks homie. May we all have the opportunity to perform the holly pilgrimage atleast once in our lifetime...enjoy...Click on " read more" below to see the rest of the photos.
The Saudi Press Agency said that a record number of Muslims were expected to make the Hajj this year - over 3.4 million anticipated over the five days of the pilgrimage. One of the pillars of Islamic faith, the Hajj must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by any Muslim who has the ability to do so. Pilgrims perform a series of rituals including walking around the Kaaba, standing vigil on Mount Arafat and a ritual Stoning of the Devil. At the end of the Hajj, on November 16th, the three day festival of Eid al-Adha begins around the world.
The Saudi Press Agency said that a record number of Muslims were expected to make the Hajj this year - over 3.4 million anticipated over the five days of the pilgrimage. One of the pillars of Islamic faith, the Hajj must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by any Muslim who has the ability to do so. Pilgrims perform a series of rituals including walking around the Kaaba, standing vigil on Mount Arafat and a ritual Stoning of the Devil. At the end of the Hajj, on November 16th, the three day festival of Eid al-Adha begins around the world.
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| A Muslim pilgrim prays atop Mount Al-Noor during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca November 9, 2010. (REUTERS/Mohammed Salem) |
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| A general view shows the Saudi holy city of Mecca, as seen from the top of Noor mountain, late on November 13, 2010. (MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images) |
Friday 3 December 2010
Some Friday Humor
You just gotta love kids...this had me in stitches! Have a blessed Friday everybody
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