Bongo Flava

Bongo Flava
Bongo Flava
Stylistic origins	Tanzanian hip hop • Taarab • Tanzanian music • Dancehall
Cultural origins	1990s Dar es Salaam
Subgenres
	Singeli;
Regional scenes
	Kenya; Uganda; Burundi;
Local scenes
	Tanzania • Zanzibar
Other topics
	Muziki wa dansi; Ngoma music; Amapiano;

Bongo Flava is a nickname for Tanzanian music.^[1] The genre developed in the 1990s, mainly as a derivative of American hip hop and traditional Tanzanian styles such as taarab and dansi, with additional influences from reggae, R&B, and afrobeats, to form a unique style of music.^[2] Lyrics are usually in Swahili or English, although increasingly from mid 2000s there has been limited use of words from Sub-Saharan African music traditions due to the influence of Afrobeats and Kwaito with their dynamics usage of West African Pidgin English, Nigerian Pidgin or other Creole language.^[3]^[4]

^ "A Short History of Bongo Flava - Bongo Visions: Comparing Narratives of Progress in Bongo Flava Music". sites.google.com. Archived from the original on 2021-11-03. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
^ Mueller, Gavin. "Bongoflava: The Primer." Stylus Magazine, 12 May 2005
^ "bongo flava – Nairobi News". nairobinews.nation.africa. 30 April 2023. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
^ "Music -- Tanzania Daily News, Dar es Salaam". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 2023-08-06.