Artist Bio:
This roots pop band from Dodoma, Tanzania, started in 1992 when Salome Kiwaya and her husband began making public performances of socially conscious songs, rooted in local traditional music. With only hand drum accompaniment, Salome sang, and soon received widespread encouragement. "People said, 'I like your voice,'" Salome recalls. "My voice reminded them of singers from West Africa. It had that kind of power, and that spirit." In the way many traditional groups in East Africa get by, Saki Stars soon won the backing of an international organization, in this case, HIVOS, a Dutch outfit working to further emancipation and democracy and to combat poverty in developing countries.
As Saki Stars added more musicians; bass, drums, keyboards, a powerful guitarist well versed in Congolese riffs and many traditional instruments, the band built a repertoire loaded with topical messages. "Most of my songs are entertainment, and at the same time educational," says Salome. "They are based on social, political, and environmental issues. We always talk about health. For example, we now have this problem of HIV. And right now, today, we are on this ongoing campaign against Female Genital Mutilation."
At the Sauti za Busara festival in Stonetown, Zanzibar, Saki Stars performed two songs on addressing the practice of FGM. One of those, "Tohara kwa Wanawake," uses the distinctively hypnotic music of the Wagogo people, rendered as electric pop, to get the word out. "I sing it in Wagogo," says Salome, "and then I just had to put the few words in English, so that everyone will get the message. I say, 'Women of this world, men of this world, why should FGM be done to women?' That's the question I'm putting out there. Of course, it is because of some of these ritual beliefs that people continue doing it. It's now against the law. Anyone caught doing it will be imprisoned or fined, so at least the government is trying. But people are doing it now very secretly, very quietly. So while we can't eliminate FGM 100 percent, we are working on that, and we are still looking for support, angels or whatever. We go from village to village, but it's difficult." (Banning Eyre Afropop.org) —Courtesy Calabash Music
