Sam GM
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 3, 2008
- 535
- 30
Rafiki yangu nakuaga mimi oooh,
Nataka kuzamia meli nienda ngambo
Kutafuta maisha eeh, kwani naona maisha ya hapa nyumbani kaka eeh
Yamenishinda
Nakula kwa tabu, Navaa kwa tabu eeh
Kulala kwangu ghetto
Basi naona shida tupu eeh
Shida tupe eeeh
Sina raha maskini mimi ooh
Sina raha hata kidogo,
Ngapulila
Maisha ya kuzamia melini yana hatari kubwa
kutoswa baharini na kupoteza maisha yako
Ngapulila achana na mawazo hayo
Ngapulila kaka una hatari eeh
Ngapulila mwenzia kashikwa ughaibuni kazamia meli na kukutwa na madawa ya kulevya
Na sasa yuko kifungoni, Ngapulila Ngapulila eeh achana na mawazo hayo
Ngapulila kaka una hatari eeh
Fanya kazi kwa bidii utapata kaka, tamaa ya kufika Ngambo imeponza wengi
Wengine walijaribu kuteka ndege nyara kutumia silaha za bandia eeh
Ngapulila una hatari eeh
I love Music, there is no doubt about it, and among many pieces of good music that Ngapulila by Vijana Jazz Band is one of them. The song is about Ngapulila, a law-abiding low class decent citizen in the capital city of Tanzania. Ngapulila does not identify his future in the toil and tumble of hard working class and in the habits of the general public. He just did not belong.His dreams were all wrapped up in an illegal sailing adventure through foreign cargo ship to a foreign land where he believes life is so much different and at least bearable.
Illegal sailing was so common then, and youngsters would rather risk their lives by hiding in the lower compartments of cargo ships than stay hopelessly around when seemed between a rock and a hard place. In case you did not work at the ports, then you will find some connections that will put you next to the departing cargo ship. Among the horrors that befell youngsters in this kind of forbidden adventure when they were discovered in the ship before they reached these intended foreign destinations, was that they were either thrown alive in deep ocean or a jail term upon their arrival.
Actually this song will take your mind back to the era in Tanzania where people queued (lined up) for most and basic necessities of life such as sugar, kerosene, cooking oil, wheat flour and so many endless stuffs in RTC stores. This is the era when every on in the country was either under a location or a sub location under a balozi. A balozi would then sign up your family card against your number of households to be eligible for certain amount of rationing from RTC. This was really a pathetic era and a bad system in delivering basic needs that Tanzania had to endure. No wonder people had dreams of getting out of the country by any means possible. Some youngsters went an extra mile by daring a plane hijack; their strategy was fruitless due to lack of planning, weapons and ignorance when in world geography and airplane instrumentation.
There has been tremendous change to date, from Nyerere, Mwiny, Mkapa and currently Kikwete. Most things that pushed people to the wall especially when you could afford some basic needs and necessities of life but had to endure a deteriorating process before you could lay your hands into what you needed are the things of the past. What still beats my understanding here is that a huge number of people still think that life can be worked out in shortcuts the Ngapulila perspective. Successful and prominent people do not take shortcuts in life but they shorten the process. There is a huge difference in taking shortcuts and shortening the process. Suppose you wanted to move from Morogoro to Arusha, by shortening the process, you would take a plane rather than a vehicle, however if you wanted to do the same trip by shortcuts then you will either hijack a plane or commandeering a vehicle. Most people in shortcuts will tell you that the end justifies the means.
There are no shortcuts in becoming a good wife and vice versa. There are no shortcuts in education either and there are no shortcuts in becoming a leader too.
By the time I replayed this song again and again, my heart was burning with a desire to not ruin the song, but to figure out why was Ngapulila so consumed with a desire to go abroad. I can just speculate because I have no way of walking in his shoes and this gives me an opportunity to blog about something else about abroad. I think it is our collective responsibility for those that had an opportunity to go abroad to be honest and true to their friends and relatives about life abroad. What beats my understanding here is not why one went abroad, no and not all. To me it does not matter whether you went to sow your wild oats, education, tourism, vacation or otherwise. What beats my mind again is when we pretend before our friends and relatives that all is good abroad. We do not tell them the truth, we do not tell them about beastly schedules that we have to endure to make ends meet. We do not tell them about sleepless nights that we endure working rather we show them photos of our princely beds that we hardly sleep on. Stop showing them photos of how nice you live, eat, drive, roll and so forth. I have never met a single soul brandishing photos of where they work and how they work.
We should be honest about abroad and tell them that it takes as much as hard working and sometimes even more just like you are in Bongo land and there are no miracles anywhere, so that people like Ngapulila can get the reality of the other world they dream about. It really beats my mind again and again when folks back home are looking for just simple information about abroad so to make an informed decision and we deny them this opportunity by misleading that we are living large abroad.
Nataka kuzamia meli nienda ngambo
Kutafuta maisha eeh, kwani naona maisha ya hapa nyumbani kaka eeh
Yamenishinda
Nakula kwa tabu, Navaa kwa tabu eeh
Kulala kwangu ghetto
Basi naona shida tupu eeh
Shida tupe eeeh
Sina raha maskini mimi ooh
Sina raha hata kidogo,
Ngapulila
Maisha ya kuzamia melini yana hatari kubwa
kutoswa baharini na kupoteza maisha yako
Ngapulila achana na mawazo hayo
Ngapulila kaka una hatari eeh
Ngapulila mwenzia kashikwa ughaibuni kazamia meli na kukutwa na madawa ya kulevya
Na sasa yuko kifungoni, Ngapulila Ngapulila eeh achana na mawazo hayo
Ngapulila kaka una hatari eeh
Fanya kazi kwa bidii utapata kaka, tamaa ya kufika Ngambo imeponza wengi
Wengine walijaribu kuteka ndege nyara kutumia silaha za bandia eeh
Ngapulila una hatari eeh
I love Music, there is no doubt about it, and among many pieces of good music that Ngapulila by Vijana Jazz Band is one of them. The song is about Ngapulila, a law-abiding low class decent citizen in the capital city of Tanzania. Ngapulila does not identify his future in the toil and tumble of hard working class and in the habits of the general public. He just did not belong.His dreams were all wrapped up in an illegal sailing adventure through foreign cargo ship to a foreign land where he believes life is so much different and at least bearable.
Illegal sailing was so common then, and youngsters would rather risk their lives by hiding in the lower compartments of cargo ships than stay hopelessly around when seemed between a rock and a hard place. In case you did not work at the ports, then you will find some connections that will put you next to the departing cargo ship. Among the horrors that befell youngsters in this kind of forbidden adventure when they were discovered in the ship before they reached these intended foreign destinations, was that they were either thrown alive in deep ocean or a jail term upon their arrival.
Actually this song will take your mind back to the era in Tanzania where people queued (lined up) for most and basic necessities of life such as sugar, kerosene, cooking oil, wheat flour and so many endless stuffs in RTC stores. This is the era when every on in the country was either under a location or a sub location under a balozi. A balozi would then sign up your family card against your number of households to be eligible for certain amount of rationing from RTC. This was really a pathetic era and a bad system in delivering basic needs that Tanzania had to endure. No wonder people had dreams of getting out of the country by any means possible. Some youngsters went an extra mile by daring a plane hijack; their strategy was fruitless due to lack of planning, weapons and ignorance when in world geography and airplane instrumentation.
There has been tremendous change to date, from Nyerere, Mwiny, Mkapa and currently Kikwete. Most things that pushed people to the wall especially when you could afford some basic needs and necessities of life but had to endure a deteriorating process before you could lay your hands into what you needed are the things of the past. What still beats my understanding here is that a huge number of people still think that life can be worked out in shortcuts the Ngapulila perspective. Successful and prominent people do not take shortcuts in life but they shorten the process. There is a huge difference in taking shortcuts and shortening the process. Suppose you wanted to move from Morogoro to Arusha, by shortening the process, you would take a plane rather than a vehicle, however if you wanted to do the same trip by shortcuts then you will either hijack a plane or commandeering a vehicle. Most people in shortcuts will tell you that the end justifies the means.
There are no shortcuts in becoming a good wife and vice versa. There are no shortcuts in education either and there are no shortcuts in becoming a leader too.
By the time I replayed this song again and again, my heart was burning with a desire to not ruin the song, but to figure out why was Ngapulila so consumed with a desire to go abroad. I can just speculate because I have no way of walking in his shoes and this gives me an opportunity to blog about something else about abroad. I think it is our collective responsibility for those that had an opportunity to go abroad to be honest and true to their friends and relatives about life abroad. What beats my understanding here is not why one went abroad, no and not all. To me it does not matter whether you went to sow your wild oats, education, tourism, vacation or otherwise. What beats my mind again is when we pretend before our friends and relatives that all is good abroad. We do not tell them the truth, we do not tell them about beastly schedules that we have to endure to make ends meet. We do not tell them about sleepless nights that we endure working rather we show them photos of our princely beds that we hardly sleep on. Stop showing them photos of how nice you live, eat, drive, roll and so forth. I have never met a single soul brandishing photos of where they work and how they work.
We should be honest about abroad and tell them that it takes as much as hard working and sometimes even more just like you are in Bongo land and there are no miracles anywhere, so that people like Ngapulila can get the reality of the other world they dream about. It really beats my mind again and again when folks back home are looking for just simple information about abroad so to make an informed decision and we deny them this opportunity by misleading that we are living large abroad.
