by Donovan Lee McGrath

“Mzungu Kichaa” ni nani?
Espen Sørensen, anayejulikana zaidi kwa jina la kisanii Mzungu Kichaa, ni mwanamuziki wa Denmark aliyekulia Tanzania baada ya kuhamia huko na familia yake akiwa na umri wa miaka sita. Akiwa na uwezo wa kuongea Kiswahili kwa wepesi, alijihusisha na muziki wa Bongo Flava na kufanya kazi na studio maarufu ya Bongo Records. Uhusiano wake wa karibu na muziki wa Afrika Mashariki uliwezesha utoaji wa albamu yake ya kwanza, Tuko Pamoja.

Mzungu Kichaa alikuwa miongoni mwa wasanii wa kwanza kurekodi kwenye Bongo Records mwishoni mwa miaka ya elfu moja mia tisa na tisini pamoja na wanamuziki mashuhuri wa Tanzania kama Juma Nature, Professor Jay na wengine. Katika kipindi hicho alipata jina la utani “Mzungu Kichaa.” Ingawa mwanzoni yeye hakuwa msanii mashuhuri sana, alishiriki kuimba sehemu za kibwagizo katika nyimbo mbalimbali mnamo mwaka elfu mbili na moja.

Baada ya kusoma Muziki na Anthropolojia ya Utamaduni nchini Uingereza na kukamilisha shahada ya uzamili katika masomo ya Afrika, alirejea kwenye shughuli za muziki. Mwaka elfu mbili na sita alianzisha kundi la Effigong, na mwaka elfu mbili na nane akaanza rasmi kazi yake kama msanii pekee. Albamu yake ya kwanza ilitolewa Afrika Mashariki mwaka elfu mbili na tisa, na baadaye ikatolewa Ulaya baada ya kupata nafasi ya kuchezwa kwenye vituo kadhaa vya redio.

Nyimbo za albamu hiyo, zikiwemo “Jitolee” (akimshirikisha Professor Jay) na “Wajanja,” zimeimbwa kwa Kiswahili na zinazungumzia masuala ya kijamii kama vile umaskini nchini Tanzania. Ili aitangaze albamu hiyo, Mzungu Kichaa alifanya ziara ya muziki nchini Tanzania, Kenya na Denmark
mwaka elfu mbili na tisa. Wimbo wake wa “Jitolee” ulipata mafanikio makubwa na ukawa maarufu nchini Tanzania na Kenya.

Who is “Mzungu Kichaa”?
Espen Sørensen, better known as Mzungu Kichaa, is a Danish musician who grew up in Tanzania after moving there with his family at age six. Fluent in Swahili, he became involved in Tanzania’s Bongo Flava music scene and worked with the influential studio Bongo Records. His deep connection to East African music led to the release of his first solo album, Tuko Pamoja.

Mzungu Kichaa was among the early artists recording at Bongo Records in the late 1990s alongside notable Tanzanian musicians such as Juma Nature, Professor Jay, and others. During this period, he earned the nickname “Mzungu Kichaa,” meaning “Crazy White Man.” Although he was not initially a prominent performer, he contributed vocals to several tracks around 2001.

After studying Music and Cultural Anthropology in the UK and completing a master’s degree in African Studies, he returned to music. He formed the group Effigong in 2006 before launching a solo career in 2008. His debut solo album was released in East Africa in 2009 and later in Europe after receiving radio airplay.

The album’s songs, including “Jitolee” (featuring Professor Jay) and “Wajanja,” are performed entirely in Swahili and address social issues such as poverty in Tanzania. To promote the album, Mzungu Kichaa toured Tanzania, Kenya, and Denmark in 2009. His single “Jitolee” became a hit in both Tanzania and Kenya.

by Donovan Lee McGrath

On the origin of Monopoly – the board game

Mtu yeyote ambaye amewahi kucheza mchezo wa ubao wa Monopoly anafahamu vizuri mienendo ya Mafanikio kwa Wenye Mafanikio: wachezaji wanaobahatika kutua kwenye mali ghali mapema katika mchezo wanaweza kuinunua, kujenga hoteli, na kupata kodi kubwa sana kutoka kwa wachezaji wenzao, hivyo kujikusanyia mali ya ushindi huku wakiwafilisi wengine. Kinachovutia, hata hivyo, ni kwamba mchezo huo hapo awali uliitwa ‘Mchezo wa Mmilikaji Ardhi’ na ulibuniwa mahususi kufichua dhuluma inayotokana na umilikaji wa mali uliozidi kwa mikono ya wachache, siyo kuuadhimisha.

Mvumbuzi wa mchezo huo, Elizabeth Magie, alikuwa mwungaji mkono mwenye msimamo wazi wa mawazo ya Henry George, na wakati alipoubuni mchezo wake kwa mara ya kwanza mwaka elfu moja mia tisa na tatu aliupa seti mbili tofauti kabisa za kanuni za kuchezwa kwa zamu. Chini ya seti ya kanuni za ‘Ustawi’, kila mchezaji alinufaika kila mara mtu aliponunua mali mpya (ikiakisi wito wa George wa kodi ya thamani ya ardhi), na mchezo huo ulishindwa (kwa pamoja) wakati mchezaji aliyeanza akiwa na kiasi kidogo sana cha pesa alipozizidisha mara mbili. Chini ya seti ya pili ya kanuni za ‘Mhodhi’, wachezaji walipata faida kwa kuwadai kodi waliokuwa na bahati mbaya ya kutua kwenye mali zao – na yeyote aliyewahi kuwafilisi wote wengine alikuwa mshindi wa pekee.

Kusudio la kuwa na seti hizo mbili za kanuni, alisema Magie, lilikuwa kwa wachezaji kupata uzoefu wa ‘mafafanuzi ya kiutendaji ya mfumo wa sasa wa kunyakua ardhi pamoja na matokeo na athari zake za kawaida,’ ili waweze kuelewa jinsi mitazamo mbalimbali ya umilikaji wa mali inavyoweza kusababisha matokeo ya kijamii yanayotofautiana kwa kiasi kikubwa. ‘Huenda ungeweza kuitwa “Mchezo wa Maisha”,’ Magie alinena, ‘kwa maana una vipengele vyote vya mafanikio na kushindwa katika dunia halisi.’ Hata hivyo kampuni ya kutengeneza michezo ya Parker Brothers iliponunua hataza ya Mchezo wa ‘Mmilikaji Ardhi’ kutoka kwa Magie wakati wa miaka ya elfu moja mia tisa na thelathini, waliuzindua upya kwa jina la Monopoly pekee, na kuwapatia umma wenye hamu seti moja tu ya kanuni: zile zilizosherehekea ushindi wa mtu mmoja juu ya wote.

Anyone who has played the board game Monopoly is well versed in the dynamics of Success to the Successful: players who are lucky enough to land on expensive properties early in the game can buy them up, build hotels, and reap vast rents from their fellow players, thus accumulating a winning fortune as they bankrupt the rest. Fascinatingly, however, the game was originally called ‘The Landlord’s Game’ and was designed precisely to reveal the injustice arising out of such concentrated property ownership, not to celebrate it.

The game’s inventor Elizabeth Magie was an outspoken supporter of Henry George’s ideas and when she first created her game in 1903 she gave it two very different sets of rules to be played in turn. Under the ‘Prosperity’ set of rules, every player gained each time someone acquired a new property (echoing George’s call for a land value tax), and the game was won (by all) when the player who had started out with the least money had doubled it. Under the second, ‘Monopolist’ set of rules, players gained by charging rent to those who were unfortunate enough to land on their properties – and whoever managed to bankrupt the rest was the sole winner.

The purpose of the dual sets of rules, said Magie, was for players to experience a ‘practical demonstration of the present system of land grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences’ and so understand how different approaches to property ownership can lead to vastly different social outcomes. ‘It might well have been called “The Game of Life”,’ remarked Magie, ‘as it contains all the elements of success and failure in the real world.’ But when the games manufacturer Parker Brothers bought the patent for the Landlord’s Game from Magie in the 1930s, they relaunched it simply as Monopoly, and provided the eager public with just one set of rules: those that celebrate the triumph of one over all.

(cf. Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth (2017))