ABOUT ME

 

From left, Me Casey, Anania Ngoliga somewhere in the USA 

My name is John Francis Kitime. I am first a musician, but then I do so many other things in art. When I was a little boy living with my grandfather in the early 60s I di try my hand in painting using water colours and pencils, for several years that was one of my hobbyies but it disappeared, maybe because I started enjoying the guitar. I have never stopped playing the guitar to date. 

I have been a member of a number of big bands in Tanzania, playing guitar and singing in bands like Orchestra Mambo Bado, Tancut Almasi Orchestra, Vijana Jazz band, and The Kilimanjaro Band.

My friend anania and I have a duo set where I play the accoustic guitar and he plays the hand Kalimba, that has got us on the same stage as Bela Flec, Casey Driessen, Vusi Malasela, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Zakhir Hussain  to name a few., 

I have tried acting, my first movie was  Song of the Bamboo a semi documentary film, and I have since been in several other movies including, Kutakapokucha, Gitaa langu, Petu na Galu, Wahenga the ancestors, and a TV series called Rebbeca,

For the last 7 years I have been  writing a weekly column on Tanzania music in Mwananchi Newspaper,  And for the last 8 years I have been presenting a three hour oldies music every Sunday evening on EFM radio in Dar Es Salaam. 

Presently I am the Programs Director of Creative Industries Tanzania (CINT), a registered body that works to champion creative sector  issues on Policy, Education, Gender, Infrastructure, freedom of art and other such related matters