MIKINDANI
When I wrote enclosing the snippet of news about the gift towards a museum at Livingstone’s house at Mikindani, I said I was unaware that he had lived in that town. You probably knew that, but my curiosity was stirred, and, after some reading, I find that Livingstone commenced his last journey there (to explore the course of the Ruvuma as a route to Lake Nyasa) but following that disappointment he tried to find the source of the Nile at Mikindani Bay. Presumably he stayed in a house in the town which is now to be made into the museum. Having discovered this, my reading then made me doubtful if the Arab Tembe at Tabora is the one where he stayed or a reconstruction of it.
John Rollinson
TANZANIA IN THE MEDIA
In the recent ‘Tanzanian Affairs’ you asked for contributions from your readers that mention Tanzania in the media. I regularly see articles about Tanzania on the BBC website www.BBCNews.com There are other websites that also include news from Tanzania including www.allafrica.com and www.africaonline.com. Some of these articles are very interesting, and at least could be mentioned in your magazine, even if not printed in full. Every few weeks I receive an e-mail claiming to be from the wife or family of a deposed African dictator or army leader, asking for my help to access millions of dollars that were placed in foreign bank accounts by their husband or father while they were running their country. The money they claim belongs to the family, but they need a foreigner to access it for them. I have no intention of helping these families access money presumably stolen or otherwise unjustly obtained while their husband or father was in power, despite the financial rewards they tell me I stand to gain if I help them. The only way they could have got my e-mail address is because I regularly correspond bye-mail with people in Tanzania. I must have received at least a dozen of these e-mails so far from countries as far apart as Nigeria and Sierra Leone to the Congo. Of course I just delete them from the computer. Do you have any better idea as to what I could do with them? Catherine Lee
‘AFRICA ON YOUR STREET’
Your readers may be interested to hear that BBC Radio 3 is introducing on January 1, 2004 a new website celebrating the African music scene across the UK at www.bbc.co.uk/radi03/africaonyourstreet. Our African hosts will offer tips on gigs, clips of their favourite CDs, news from the studio and gossip from the dance floor, covering styles from Afrobeat to zouk and from laid-back mbira to Tanzanian hip-hop. You’ll find profiles of the big international artists on tour and interviews with a wealth of African musicians based here in the UK. We hope to create a community of music-lovers, celebrating the UK’s rich heritage of African musical traditions, as well as the fresh energy of new styles and fusions being created here every day. It is expected that there will be some coverage of Tanzanian hip-hop, such as the X-Plastaz, but we would like to cover more traditional music as well. We were wondering if there would be some space in TA to request your readers to send their recommendations on Tanzanian music in Africa and the UK? We have had a meeting regarding music from the region and are very keen to develop knowledge and information for the website.
Meera Sengupta Mob: 07811 xx1 231
Apologies
It is regretted that there was a serious error in the Obituaries in the last issue. That for Mrs Josephine Rollinson should have been for Mrs Josephine Sharp.
The Obituary should have read as follows: Mrs Josephine Sharp, wife of the late former Commissioner for Town Planning in Tanganyika, Robert Sharp, who has died of cancer, directed or took part in more than 39 of the productions of The Dar es Salaam Players at the Little Theatre. Her proudest moment was when, in 1964, President Nyerere attended a production of ‘Twelfth Night’ which she directed. She was also sometime President of the Women’s Service League.
Thank you to the reader who has written as follows: ‘Concerning the article about HH the Sultan of Zanzibar in Tanzanian Affairs No. 76, the Zanzibar Revolution took place on 12 January 1964, i.e. rather more than ‘three years later’ than the Queen’s Coronation – Editor.
Christine Lawrence has pointed out that in the review “Out of the Box” in TA No. 75 Colin Hasting’s e-mail address should have been: colin_AT_kijijivision.com