"Jambo Bwana" (in

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

Hello Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwich Cou ...

Sir") is a Kenyan pop song also popular in Tanzania. It was first released in 1982 by Kenyan band Them Mushrooms, and later covered by a number of other groups and artists, including Mombasa Roots, Safari Sound Band, Khadja Nin, Adam Solomon, Mani Kollengode, and the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

group

Boney M. Boney M. is a German reggae, funk and disco music group founded in 1974. It achieved popularity during the disco era in the second half of the 1970s. The band was created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary song ...

Some versions come under different titles, such as "Jambo Jambo" and "Hakuna Matata". "Jambo Bwana" has been largely adopted as a hotel pop song, targeting a tourist audience. Its lyrics includes several common phrases and greetings in

, such as ''habari gani? nzuri sana'' ("how are you doing? very well") and ''

hakuna matata "Hakuna matata" () is a Swahili language phrase. In English, it means "no trouble" or "no worries" and "take it easy" (literally ''hakuna'': "there is no/there are no"; ''matata'': "worries"). The 1994 Walt Disney Animation Studios animated film ...

'' ("no problem, no worries"). The original version by Them Mushrooms also included lines celebrating Swahili language,

reggae music Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay", was the first popular song to ...

, Africa, and "mushroom soup" (a reference to

psilocybin mushroom Psilocybin mushrooms, or psilocybin-containing mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms or as shrooms, are a type of hallucinogenic mushroom and a polyphyletic informal group of fungi that contain the prodrug psilocybin, which turns into t ...

s).Lyrics of "Jambo Bwana" by Them Mushrooms
with English translation. There are several mistypes in the text, including "Africa" instead of "Afrika", and "kwell kwell" instead of "kweli kweli".

Popularity

"Jambo Bwana" by Them Mushrooms was a huge commercial success, selling over 200,000 copies between 1982 and 1987 and getting

platinum certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

in Kenya. As a consequence of this popularity, many other bands covered the songs, in some cases with a similar success; the version by Safari Sound Band, in particular, is one of the most played songs in tourist venues in

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

.Them Mushrooms at BigQ Unlimited
The use of the Swahili phrase "hakuna matata" in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's "

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...

" might be a reference to the chorus of the song. Them Mushrooms released the song in several of their albums, and both their version and cover versions of the song are found in many compilations of African pop music, including those dedicated to parties and children (such as the '' African Playground'' CD published by Putumayo Kids). The song was featured in the 2019 film Where’d You Go Bernadette, directed by Richard Linklater and starring Cate Blanchett.

Covers

Some of the covers of "Jambo Bwana" come under different titles and have modified lyrics. The

version, released in 1983, is entitled "Jambo - Hakuna Matata" and its lyrics are in English and almost completely different; only the "jambo bwana" and "hakuna matata" lines have been preserved. The Safari Sound Band version "Jambo Jambo" has the central part of the lyrics changed, with references to reggae and mushrooms being replaced by other tourist-oriented common Swahili phrases such as ''Kenya ni nchi nzuri'' ("Kenya is a beautiful country"). In 2016, a cover was made by Kenyan musician Mani Kollengode.

Partial list of "Jambo Bwana" versions

Boney M. version

In 1983, German group

released "Jambo - Hakuna Matata".

Liz Mitchell Elizabeth Rebecca Pemberton-Mitchell (born 12 July 1952) is a British singer, best known as one of the original singers of the 1970s disco and reggae band Boney M. Mitchell now lives in Reading, UK. Early life Mitchell was born in the paris ...

provided the song's lead vocals, backed by

Reggie Tsiboe Reggie Tsiboe (born 7 September 1950) is a Ghanaian-British entertainer, dancer and one of the singers of the disco group Boney M. between 1982 and 1986 and later between 1989 and 1990. Career During the 1970s, Tsiboe was a member of the group ...

Frank Farian Franz Reuther (18 July 1941 – 23 January 2024), known professionally as Frank Farian, was a German record producer and singer who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the pop band No Mercy, and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequent ...

Marcia Barrett Marcia Barrett (born 14 October 1948) is a British singer and one of the original singers with the vocal group Boney M. Early years Barrett was born in Saint Catherine Parish, British Jamaica; her parents brought her to Croydon, England in ...

, Cathy Bartney, Madeleine Davis, and Judy Cheeks. The single was intended to be included in the group's untitled seventh album, to be released in the fall of 1983, but didn't happen. Several mixes of "Jambo" were made. The 4:06 mix (as featured in the accompanying music video) was only released in Spain and Portugal. A 3:39 edit was released elsewhere. The full 7:44 version was only released on the Spanish and Portuguese 12" singles - the German 12" single (despite crediting the timing 7:42 on the label) was actually an edit of 5:35. In France, an even shorter edit 5:15 was released.

References

External links

* * * * {{authority control Songs in Swahili Kenyan songs 1983 singles Boney M. songs 1982 songs Hansa Records singles