Tanzania Heritage Project (Radio Tanzania Archives)

Founded by a small group of students, artists, and activists, Tanzania Heritage Project is a cultural and historic preservation project dedicated to the conservation of the country’s national heritage. It seeks to ensure the continued use, enjoyment, and relevance of all forms of creative expression in Tanzanian culture.

Radio Tanzania’s broadcast archive contains over 100 000 hours of government-sponsored dance music, radio dramas, educational songs, and ethnographic recordings of Tanzanian tribes. Everything is recorded on reel-to-reel tape technology and all recordings are categorized accordingly, they give dance steps relevant to a specific recording. The earliest recording is from 1958 and the latest is from recent years. The archivist can provide a CD recording of songs of the visitor’s choice for about eight U.S. dollars.

The archives represent the evolution of the muziki wa dansi sound, from early tribal recordings to Cuban-inspired Afro-rhumba and jazz.