Ace Tanzanian Musician, who is among the top guitarists in East Africa has disappeared under mysterious circumstances at the Zambian side of the border.
Matuka Mwenda Bizoo, who is Congolese by Origin is reported to have been traveling from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), returning to Tanzania when he went missing at the Nankonde-Tunduma border.
Matuka Mwenda was reportedly traveling in a bus with other passengers and that when the vehicle arrived at the border from Zambia, most people disembarked from their seats and went on to attend immigration processes as well as taking a few minutes’ rest.
Upon returning aboard, the bus was about to leave when fellow passengers noticed that one of them was missing.
It turned out to be Matuka Mwenda who after leaving the bus never returned.
Fellow travelers tried to search for him but without success thus forced to leave the border point without the musician.
The Tanzania Times tried to follow up the issue in Tunduma but until going to press, little had been found out about the missing musician.
Matuka’s wife, Tshandanda Ngalula, who lives in Dar-es-salaam reported the incident appealing for help from authorities as well as other musicians plus the immigration and security personnel at the Tanzania-Zambia border so that her husband could be found.
Matuka Mwenda Bizoo has played with some of the biggest music bands in Tanzania including Orchestra Safari Sound (OSS), of the famed ‘Marashi ya Pemba,’ and ‘Chatu Mkali,’ as well as Maquis du Zaire (Original) where he participated in top hits like ‘Tshandanda Ngalula,’ ‘Makumbele,’ and ‘Hali Ngumu.’
Until recently, Mwenda Bizoo was part of the ‘Le Capitale,’ or ‘Wazee Sugu,’ band which produced the fire hit, ‘Kitambaa Cheupe,’ among others.
Matuka recently travelled to his home country of DRC and when the musician was on his way back, via Zambia, he mysteriously disapeared at Nakonde-Tunduma border.
Matuka Mwenda first arrived in Tanzania in 1978 then a very young man recruited from Lubumbashi in the former Zaire (Now DR Congo) and taken to Dar-es-Salaam to form the new band, the Orchestra Safari Sound with which he played until around 1987 then crossed on to join Maquis Original band.
Matuka Mwenda (Bizoo)
During his 1978 journey from Lubumbashi to Dar-es-salaam, Matuka Mwenda was accompanied with another musician, Kababa Nkhomba Gabby who is currently in Sweden playing with Dekula Band of Stockholm fronted by Dekula Kahanga, popularly called ‘Vumbi.’
The Nakonde-Tunduma border is the busiest land gateway between Tanzania and Zambia.
The busy border crossing sits between Nakonde in Zambia and Tunduma in Songwe (Tanzania) and forms part of the Great North Road linking Dar es Salaam to Zambia’s Copperbelt and the southern Africa region as well as DR Congo.
