Ali Kiba urges musicians to sing in Swahili

"There is no barrier of language in music, in the past we loved listening to Congolese music yet we could not understand the Lingala language.” he said yesterday during an interview with the East Africa television station. “Swahili is the dominant language in East Africa and the national language in Kenya and Tanzania. Therefore, it goes without saying that we need to promote it.”

Adding that he prefers to sing in Swahili because his Bongo Fleva music does very well. “I stage concerts in countries where people do not speak Swahili yet they are able to sing along to my music.”

According to Kiba the new generation of musicians believes that composing a song in English will make them more popular internationally forgetting that music is an art and people are attracted to it for different reasons. “Some people listen to the lyrics which requires that one understands the language, others enjoy the melody while the critiques enjoy well-arranged songs” he said.

The musician who is not well verse with the English language told Tanzanian artists to not be intimidated by those who speak the language because they are not any better than them. “Musicians should not have the fear of losing fans abroad because of singing in Swahili, i am living proof so they can do it too.”

Kiba has incorporated English and French words in some of his songs a sign that he is willing to satisfy different types of fans. His latest release ‘Seduce me’ hit 1 million views on Youtube 38 hours after its release making him the first East African artist to set the record.

Asked whether he has any plans of improving his English he said “No I do not plan to because I am already successful. I know many people who cannot speak English but are very wealthy. So it doesn’t matter what language you use, as long as your music is good you will be successful.”