Mohamed Said
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 2, 2008
- 20,915
- 30,259
PETER COLMORE MZUNGU MSWAHILI WA KENYA NA TANGANYIKA
Nilipomaliza kuandika kitabu cha Abdul Sykes nikamwambia Bwana Ally tukae kitako anihadithie maisha yake tuandike kitabu.
Ally Sykes akaniambia kuwa yeye hana umuhimu nishaandika historia ya Bwana Abdul (kama mwenyewe alivyopenda kumwita kaka yake), Hamza Mwapachu na Julius Nyerere basi imetosha.
Sikukata tamaa ikawa kila mara namkazania kuhusu jambo hili kiasi ikawa kama vile namkera.
Siku moja kumkumbusha habari ya kitabu chake akanikubalia kama vile kukwepa kero yangu.
Leo Araf Sykes kaniletea picha ya Peter Colmore ya 1962 na ikasadifu kuwa mimi nilimfahamu Peter Colmore akiwa katika umri huu.
Jambo hili limenirudisha nyuma sana kunikumbusha Ally Sykes na Peter Colmore nikaona niingie katika mswada wa Ally Sykes niweke kipande kidogo hapa:
''Under the Shadow of British Colonialism in Tanganyika The Autobiography of Ally Kleist Sykes''
As told to Mohamed Said
NAIROBI 1945 - 1947
I first met Colmore in Nairobi in 1942 during the war.
I was at Kabete near Nairobi waiting to be transported overseas.
I met Peter Colmore in a record shop called East African Music Store.
Both of us were in uniform.
We exchanged greetings and few words.
Our meeting in this record shop was a good omen because later our relationship would evolve around music and the business enterprise we would build would have music as its basic foundation.
Colmore was an English aristocrat his father Major Horace Colmore was in the army but died in 1937, before the war began in Europe.
Colmore was a Lieutenant and Aide De Camp to General Sir William Platt Commander in Chief of the East African Forces.
I was a Lance Corporal. After the war I disembarked at Mombasa and came to Nairobi to seek for employment.
I went to look for Colmore. Colmore had started his own real estate business, Colban Limited in partnership with an English lady.
I joined the real estate agency owned by Colmore and his partner.
Peace had created new opportunities to those who wanted to settle in Kenya.
Colmore made me in charge of the office.
My job was to take prospecting buyers to the properties and negotiate for price leaving for Colmore to seal the deal after I had completed the groundwork.
I also acted as a public relations officer of the agency.
A very prestigious job for an African to have at that time.
I got on well with Colmore and we decided to add another sideline to the real estate agency to improve our earnings.
We decided to start a band.
Since I was in the Entertainment Unit during the war, it was not difficult for me to organise one.
Colmore brought into the country an all-African band from Southern Rhodesia.
The reason for this was that at that time Kenyan musicians had not yet caught up with modern musical instruments.
This band from Rhodesia had African musicians who played the piano, saxophone and trumpets.
Colmore put me in-charge and I was responsible for general management and for fixing engagement of the band.
Colmore himself was a gifted stage artist.
He could mimicry and make his audience roll with laughter.
He was a regular performer at the Nairobi Royal Theatre.
Our band played also at the Royal Theatre thus adding flavour to the shows.
These shows were later linked with publicity of products manufactured by multinational companies.
The band suddenly found itself in a situation that not only it provided entertainment to the audience, but was also promoting products and giving them publicity.
Colmore entrusted me with the management of this nascent sales promotion venture.
DAR ES SALAAM 1947
Tom Chalmers the Director of Sauti ya Dar es Salaam put us on a radio show when radio broadcasting began in 1952.
Chalmers was himself a musician, a broadcaster and an engineer.
The exposure to radio gave us prominence and made our style known and be appreciated by those who were not into that kind of music.
With Peter Colmore as my partner we set up an office in Dar es Salaam.
Our company advertised from cigarettes to petroleum products.
We represented, promoted, and were consultants to Coca Cola (East Africa) Ltd; The Cooper Motors Corporation Ltd; The Shell Company of East Africa Ltd, Aspro Nicholas Ltd; Gailey and Roberts Ltd; Bata Shoes Company Ltd; Kenya Broadcasting Service, Cotton Lint and Seed Marketing Board, Raleigh Industries of East Africa Ltd; Commercial Representative in Kenya for Tanganyika Broadcasting Corporation.
The head office of this massive sales promotion venture was in Nairobi Delamere Avenue, now Kenyatta Avenue.
Peter Colmore then founded his own recording company - High Fidelity Productions Limited.
Peter Colmore built some products into household names in East Africa.
The best musicians East Africa had ever known promoted some products.
Apart from this Colmore also ventured into film making with Dr. Johnson who owned the recording company "Jambo," of which the talented singer and bandmaster Salum Abdallah recorded.
Nilipomaliza kuandika kitabu cha Abdul Sykes nikamwambia Bwana Ally tukae kitako anihadithie maisha yake tuandike kitabu.
Ally Sykes akaniambia kuwa yeye hana umuhimu nishaandika historia ya Bwana Abdul (kama mwenyewe alivyopenda kumwita kaka yake), Hamza Mwapachu na Julius Nyerere basi imetosha.
Sikukata tamaa ikawa kila mara namkazania kuhusu jambo hili kiasi ikawa kama vile namkera.
Siku moja kumkumbusha habari ya kitabu chake akanikubalia kama vile kukwepa kero yangu.
Leo Araf Sykes kaniletea picha ya Peter Colmore ya 1962 na ikasadifu kuwa mimi nilimfahamu Peter Colmore akiwa katika umri huu.
Jambo hili limenirudisha nyuma sana kunikumbusha Ally Sykes na Peter Colmore nikaona niingie katika mswada wa Ally Sykes niweke kipande kidogo hapa:
''Under the Shadow of British Colonialism in Tanganyika The Autobiography of Ally Kleist Sykes''
As told to Mohamed Said
NAIROBI 1945 - 1947
I first met Colmore in Nairobi in 1942 during the war.
I was at Kabete near Nairobi waiting to be transported overseas.
I met Peter Colmore in a record shop called East African Music Store.
Both of us were in uniform.
We exchanged greetings and few words.
Our meeting in this record shop was a good omen because later our relationship would evolve around music and the business enterprise we would build would have music as its basic foundation.
Colmore was an English aristocrat his father Major Horace Colmore was in the army but died in 1937, before the war began in Europe.
Colmore was a Lieutenant and Aide De Camp to General Sir William Platt Commander in Chief of the East African Forces.
I was a Lance Corporal. After the war I disembarked at Mombasa and came to Nairobi to seek for employment.
I went to look for Colmore. Colmore had started his own real estate business, Colban Limited in partnership with an English lady.
I joined the real estate agency owned by Colmore and his partner.
Peace had created new opportunities to those who wanted to settle in Kenya.
Colmore made me in charge of the office.
My job was to take prospecting buyers to the properties and negotiate for price leaving for Colmore to seal the deal after I had completed the groundwork.
I also acted as a public relations officer of the agency.
A very prestigious job for an African to have at that time.
I got on well with Colmore and we decided to add another sideline to the real estate agency to improve our earnings.
We decided to start a band.
Since I was in the Entertainment Unit during the war, it was not difficult for me to organise one.
Colmore brought into the country an all-African band from Southern Rhodesia.
The reason for this was that at that time Kenyan musicians had not yet caught up with modern musical instruments.
This band from Rhodesia had African musicians who played the piano, saxophone and trumpets.
Colmore put me in-charge and I was responsible for general management and for fixing engagement of the band.
Colmore himself was a gifted stage artist.
He could mimicry and make his audience roll with laughter.
He was a regular performer at the Nairobi Royal Theatre.
Our band played also at the Royal Theatre thus adding flavour to the shows.
These shows were later linked with publicity of products manufactured by multinational companies.
The band suddenly found itself in a situation that not only it provided entertainment to the audience, but was also promoting products and giving them publicity.
Colmore entrusted me with the management of this nascent sales promotion venture.
DAR ES SALAAM 1947
Tom Chalmers the Director of Sauti ya Dar es Salaam put us on a radio show when radio broadcasting began in 1952.
Chalmers was himself a musician, a broadcaster and an engineer.
The exposure to radio gave us prominence and made our style known and be appreciated by those who were not into that kind of music.
With Peter Colmore as my partner we set up an office in Dar es Salaam.
Our company advertised from cigarettes to petroleum products.
We represented, promoted, and were consultants to Coca Cola (East Africa) Ltd; The Cooper Motors Corporation Ltd; The Shell Company of East Africa Ltd, Aspro Nicholas Ltd; Gailey and Roberts Ltd; Bata Shoes Company Ltd; Kenya Broadcasting Service, Cotton Lint and Seed Marketing Board, Raleigh Industries of East Africa Ltd; Commercial Representative in Kenya for Tanganyika Broadcasting Corporation.
The head office of this massive sales promotion venture was in Nairobi Delamere Avenue, now Kenyatta Avenue.
Peter Colmore then founded his own recording company - High Fidelity Productions Limited.
Peter Colmore built some products into household names in East Africa.
The best musicians East Africa had ever known promoted some products.
Apart from this Colmore also ventured into film making with Dr. Johnson who owned the recording company "Jambo," of which the talented singer and bandmaster Salum Abdallah recorded.
