GREETINGS FROM TINGA TINGA FAMILIES IN SOUTH TANZANIA

Ilona Fuzekova and brother of Mr. Charinda

Desderia Haule with Lilangas relatives

Daniel Augusta with mother of Amonde, Mkura and Nakoko

How Saidi Omary looked for his Mother

Sometimes the love does not make any difference whether one is poor or rich or whether one is a Christian or Muslim. And it was also the case of the parents of Saidi Omary.

His father is called Amadi Saidi Chilamboni, himself a painter and with a story (Mjini Taabu). He was born in south Tanzania in the village Mtonya. There he met his first love Beneta Peter Oswald.

It is not unusual that in the same village there are people of both religions – Muslims and Christians. It is true especially about Makua tribe. In Tanzania the people chose Islam as their religion since it protected them from the attacks of Arab slave dealers. In Mosambique, just on the other border was the situation different. There was an influence of Portuguese who were Christian so the Makua from Mozambique became Christianized. Since migration the Makua of Mozambique and Tanzania mixed and therefore we find both religions represented.

In most cases the pair who want to marry and where both belongs to different religions, one of them just simply convert. Usually it is the woman who converts. But in the case of Saidi Omary´s parents it was somewhat difficult.

The father of Saidi´s father was a “shehe” , an Islamic religious leader. And Saidi´s mother´s father was a Christian priest. None of them agreed to convert when it came to marriage. And at that time they had already two children and they have been living in Dar es Salaam. The small Saidi Omary and Zainabu Amadi, one year younger sister.

After they couldn’t agree on conversion they decided to separate. The mother took the daughter and returned to the village Mtonya in South Tanzania while the father stayed in Dar es Salaam with his 3 years old son. It was in 1982. They lived in Dar es Salaam until Saidi became 21 years old. Until then Saidi had not seen his mother . But now Saidi wanted to see his mother.

He decided in 1999 to go to South Tanzania to see his mother. The money he got from selling two paintings for 120.000 Tsh, recalls Saidi. The father was nervous but he too agreed. He was bitter since the time when his partner left him. Saidi went bus together with Slyd, another Tinga Tinga painter. He had his mother there too. It was the first time for both painters to go to Mtonya. The trip went smoothly.

Once Saidi arrived to the village he started to ask the villagers about whereabouts of his mother´s father, Mzee Oswald, the priest. He found him nearby. He asked him” who are you? “. “I am the child of Beneta” Saidi answered. He moved quickly and opened widely his eyes, he couldn´t believe his eyes. He assured again if it was really Saidi. “yes”, Saidi confirmed.

“Your mother is now living outside the village, on the farm” continued Mzee Owald. Saidi took a bicycle and went to the farm together with his uncle. When they arrived to the farm the uncle joked: “Mama, I brought you a customer who wants to buy rice”. Then the uncle and the mother started to speak in their tribal language in order the “seller” would not understand. The Saidi´s mother did not know that he was her child and that he knew her tribal language!

She complained to the uncle:”where shall I get the rice now?!”. Uncle started to laugh and asked the mother looking at Saidi.: “Mama, don’t you remember the face? “ Mother replied “ I don’t remember because this man never came to our village before”. And then the uncle told to the mother” this is Saidi, your child!” The mother couldn´t believe. She was so happy that she dropped the tears from her eyes.

Saidi Chilamboni – Mjini Taabu (The hard life in the city)

There is a place in Dar es Salaam which is called Mjini Taabu. It is in Msasani and it means “The hard life in the city” (Mjini = city, Taabu = problem). And this is because of Saidi Chilamboni, a Tinga Tinga painter.
Saidi Chilamboni explains:” I came to Dar es Salaam from my native village Nakapanya in 1968, I was 23 years old, at that time.” It was my brother who invited me. But upon coming to Dar es Salaam he declined to provide me accommodation or a place to sleep”.

Therefore I went to my uncle. He told me:”why did your brother call you to Dar es Salaam and then he rejected to provide a place to sleep?...and now you come to me…!”

”So I decided to go to another relative Bwanan Hamisi Mohamed. He received me well and though he had only one room he agreed to share it with me. But later his wife came.

Now it was impossible to share the room. “What shall we do now?” asked the brother. And Saidi just stood there silent…..and then said: ”Oh, you see, here it is Mjini Taabu. (Mjini = city, Taabu = problem). If I was in the village I would find a place to sleep, even if it was in the forest. But in the citu it is hard.

So again Saidi was looking for a place to stay (it was fourth time now). Luckily he got friends from Waporogo tribe (from Ifakara). They all shared one room and the life went on. But one day the government of Tanzania ordered all people without an ID card and without job to leave Dar es Salaam and return to their homes. All who wouldn´t follow the order would be caught. And really – one night came police to the room and hit the door when all four friends slept. Saidi was lucky, he run away.

Here Saidi´s patience quited and he decided to return to his village. “I spared money to a ticket and I returned back to my village Nakapanya”. It was still the same year 1968. After 4 years in the village he heard that Tingatinga painted and sold the paintings. He met Tingatinga in 1968 in Dar es Salaam when he worked at hospital and he met him in his native village before. “I saw an opportunity. I was myself painting on the walls in my village since 1961. It was just for fun and I liked it. I was sure Tingatinga would accept me as a student. But the same year 1972 I got news that Tingatinga died”

“Now I thought who would teach me. I thought about Amonde, Tedo, Ajaba, Adeusi, Linda and even about Mzee Mruta (who painted the house in Copenhagen). I first thought that Ajaba would teach me because I married his sister” says Saidi

“But when I returned back to Dar es Salaam in 1973 it was Omari Amonde who became my teacher since I liked his paintings” Saidi says. And that time his new life started. He could afford to build even a house, though it was made of clay and grass as in villages. It was in Msasani and it was in 1983. And on the wall he painted a painting of his life story. He painted himself as he went back to the village after so many failures. And above the painting he wrote “Mjini Taabu”. Many people stopped when they passed and took even photos of the painting. There were many many Mzungus (White men) who came to see the painting. It was very popular.

At that time there was a bus stand nearby the house. People started to call the bus stand “Mjini Taabu”. Saidi recalls: “ I remember one day when I sat in bus and people asked the drive to stop at Mjini Taabu. I was moved”. In fact the passengers discovered later that he was in the bus and he was applauded.

In 2008 Saidi Chilamboni sold the house in Msasani and moved to Mbagala. Even there he wrote “Mjini Taabu” on the wall. When he opened a local restaurant in Mbagala he called it Mjini Taabu too. So now there two places in Dar es Salaam called “Mjini Taabu”.

Short CV of Saidi Chilamboni: Saidi Chilamboni was born 1945 in Nakapanya in South Tanzania. He has 4 children. Saidi Omary is painting. Also Sofia Saidi painted but after marriage she quited. Saidi has 11 grandsons. All are still small or they are studying . But one of them, called Tyson, likes to look at Saidi when he paints. He does not even want to go to school.

Tingatinga´s sacred places

Makua people have in some extent preserved their own traditional believes up to now. Before colonial times the Makua people used to pray under the canopy of Msoro tree. Now they may not practise it anymore but there is much more interesting place where Makua people pray. And that place is not easy to find.

The bath in Bwawani could heal, believe the Makua people. That is why thousands of people come here. The process of bath has some rules like entering the pond through red and white blankets. The place is called Mkwera Bwawani, simply translated as Mkwera pond situated 4 km from the main road Lindi - Ndanda. When I arrived to the sacred place I met a traditional healer who resides at the place since 1987. The pond is said to be a place of miracles in 1960s. Since then Bwawani was visited by thousands of sick people and fortune seekers alike. The bathe in the pond is holy. A short ceremony must be held before entering the waters.

The healer´s name is Masudi, a man of around 70 years. He is blind. He has build a house ca 30 metres from the pond. When I entered the house I was given a special medicine by his assistants. Then I could enter Masudi´s room separated by red and white blankets. He told me with clear and decisive voice to respect the place. He told me it was open to all people of all colours.

NAKAPANYA - THE CAPITAL OF TINGATINGA

I have visited the villages Nakapanya, Mtonya and Mindu between 29th December 2008 and 1st January 2009. I celebrated the New Year there.

The biggest of the four villages where the tingatinga painters come from is named Nakapanya. It is situated in southern Tanzania near Mozambican border in the district of Tunduru. The distance from Dar es Salaam is ca 700 km. The first half of the road is cutting through the coastal region of Tanzania up to the old Swahili town Lindi. There you turn west and continue up to Masasi on the asphalt road. The last 135 km from Masasi up to Nakapanya is a rough road.

The area is populated by the tribe of Makua (Wamakua in Kiswahili) so most of the Tingatinga painters are Makua. Makua is a neighbour to Makonde, the well known sculptors. The Makua people came from Mozambique a few centuries ago same as Makonde, Mwera and Yao tribes. They escaped rule of Portuguese who governed Mozambique since 15th century. They found piece and fertile soil in Tanzania so they stayed here.

Nakapanya could be regarded as “a capital of Tingatinga” because most of the painters come from this village. However the majority of the people in Nakapanya are off course not painters. They are farmers and they have little interest in Tingatinga paintings. They have never seen any painting but they know that many villagers do paint in Dar es Salaam. It is worth to notice that the painters belong to one extended family. As a result there is a division between this family and the rest of the village population in Nakapanya.

2000 KM ON MOTORBIKE

Our trip to Nakapanya took 5 days. We arrived well at 4 PM on 29th December 2008

No one of the Tingatinga painters believed us that we will visit their village Nakapanya in the Tunduru district in south Tanzania, near Mosambican border. Around 700 Km of which one third on rough roads. On a cheap chinese motorcycle all painted by their tingatinga paintings.

The first day we covered only 70 km south of Dar es Salaam to a small village of Mvuleni. It was very late at night but we knew a sculptor Thobias Lichanda was living ca 3 km down in the bush. The only problem was that Lichanda had no phone so we couldn´t comunicate with him before.We were greeted by pangas (local machetes) on the road in the bush. It was Lichanda with his two friends who were scared...But at last we got a good sleep.

The next day I got a lesson in driving in sand. I thought it was our last day. We fell twice. Desderia got pain in foot. It was hot, the sand burning.Driving in sand is fuel demanding. So we had to add more fuel in the next village. Some of good smelling petrol was spilled on S.Omari´s leopard.

THE TINGATINGA MOTORBIKE IS BORN

Why all motorcycles should be red, blue or black here in Tanzania? Why not to paint them with fun images? Just think about to have an original one which is owned only and only by you! No problem here in Dar es Salaam, the craddle of all Tingatinga things!

It took five days to paint the motorcycle, starting on 12th December 2008. I guess between 10 and 15 painters participated. Much fun! It started innocently with paintings mirrors. Mr. Sarange painted Masai people (which was later appreciated with real Masais in the city) and Mr. Zabury painted Kanga (English: very colorful nice bird)

The helmet was supposed to be a gift to my girlfriend Desderia but instead I got a warning saying she will never put it on her head. But at last the helmet was so nice! It took three days to paint by a very silent and modest unknown talented tingatinga painter Mr. Mrope. The theme were Samaki (English: Fish)