Tanzania


Paul Peter Matthysse
Age: 27

My Job Title

Recording label CEO / Music producer - Bongo Records Ltd., Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania

My Education

Sound Engineering / Music School (SAE), Modern Music Technology & Recording, NVQ 1-4 (1995-1997)

My Work

"Well , I started the country's first independent recording label from scratch before we had any FM radios or entertainment TV stations in Tanzania. In this company, we scout talent & develop them into recording & performing artists. Most of these artists come from a very poor background with basic education (primary or secondary school), or none at all. For these artists, music has become their savior. Some of these artists have even sold up to 500,000 audio tapes of one product in our market of about 40 million Tanzanians, with at least 80 % of the country not even having any electricity at all.

Our products also reach neighbouring countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi and the rest of the world at a small scale. Sadly, most of the works are pirated and royalties are never received. My job is to pick the right talents, produce & direct an album of 10 or more songs,Once all the material is completed, then I would lead a team of people that will be responsible for the marketing of the artist and product

I can confidently say that we have played a very big part in Bongo flava achieving the status it has today. In the process, I have myself won 3 Best Music Producer of the Year awards in Tanzania for 2004, 2005, 2006 In 2006, I was nominated for East African Best Music Producer of the Year. Bongo Records has also been responsible for the release of more the 40 albums. My style of composing & handling the business side of music has influenced many people to follow in my footsteps."

Issues in the music industry in my country

Since 1999, our local music has grown to be appreciated by our market more then music from abroad. Even Congolese music lost the battle, after it had been one of the biggest things in the 90's. Our local concerts can now draw huge crowds, giving us the power to address & support campaigns on local issues such as HIV, corruption, electricity & water problems, child abuse & human rights.

Our sales of local music products have risen by at least 70% or more since 1999. President Kikwete has realized our importance & is taking the music industry more seriously. Corporate sponsorship is developing, as new media begins to flourish. Even ringtone sales have become a business

The downsides include disrespect for copyright, and the piracy of our works. We don't receive broadcasting royalties, the distribution network is poor and dishonest and has no database, no bar codes, and often very poor quality on audio tapes, CD/DVD's and VHS - in terms of both the content and the appearance. Not only the content. We don't stand a chance getting our music shelved in a HMV store if manufactured in Tanzania! The prices of CD players have dropped over the years, though our retailers still overprice them, even though they do get them very cheap in Asia. So this is slowing down the exchange process from audio tape to CDs (yet we're on our way). The sound & stage set ups available are usually of very poor quality and even our main concert hall in Dar-er-Salaam is not designed for live performances: the sound just ends up sounding even more distorted. Our music industry is a bit like the wild west at the moment. Nothing is ever really official it's mostly deals done under the table.

Innovative artists & music business trends from my country

I would focus on promoting Bongo Flava & other Tanzanian music style's, rather than an individual music artist. I think we have a lot of talented artists and musicians who would bring a unique sound towards the UK & international market. I'm not talking about hitting the billboard charts by storm, because most of the stuff that reaches the charts nowadays is bubble gum music - i.e. with no longevity - in the first place. What if we made a song with Juma nature (the King of Bongo Flava) together with Ray-C (the Queen of Bongo) & featured R-Kelly (who's the King of Modern R&B) on the track? Imagine that, then receiving the same kind of promotion major international Artist's would receive.

Maybe I'm just thinking too big, but nobody ever got anywhere by thinking small.

The information above is taken from the application form completed by the finalist in early 2007. Things may have changed since this information was provided and we recommend that you should not rely upon this information as a definitive statement of current fact. Click here to contact the finalist.