Fred Orido
7 July 2007
Nairobi — Tanzanian songbird Saida Karoli is in Nairobi this weekend.
Her third visit to the country, she has a family show at Vic Falls Restaurant, in Mombasa Road. The show started yesterday and ends tonight.
Although not much has been heard of since her smash hit, Maria Salome, the artiste is still a favourite with many Kenyan music lovers.
According to her Kenyan promoter, Otieno Lysaniash, Karoli's shows are to promote her latest album, Mimi Nakupenda.
"She is one of the East African artistes with a crossover appeal, and we want to promote her album, " he told Review.
The 10-track album has popular tracks such as Umbea, Fimbo ya Mbali and Kila Mwanadamu ni Muhimu.
Known for blending folk songs with modern beats, Karoli is best remembered for Maria Salome.
It is this single that enabled her to win the best traditional artiste accolade during the Kilimanjaro Music Awards ceremony about five years ago.
Unlike her previous album, Mimi Nakupenda has reggae tracks, which is the trend among Tanzanian artistes.
The album is a follow-up of Mapenzi Kizungu Kizungu, which still does good sales.
Karoli is a hot number in her home region of Bukoba where her popular beats have put her on top of artistes singing in her native Haya language.
She last visited Kenya in 2005, but the tour was marred by a controversy involving payment.
The promoters were said to have failed to pay her performance fee.
"This is one of the reasons we are bringing her back so that she realises that not all local promoters are that bad, " Otieno points out.
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