Singeli Movement

From the ever sprawling and bustling Dar Es Salaam Singeli scene, comes unique Mother and Daughter duo Rehema Tajiri and Queen Asher. Rehema Tajiri’s career spawns over 20 years, first through the Tanzanian-Congolese rumba scene, as a singer and a dancer and a first album « Sumu Ya Ndoa » released in 2002. In 2005 she moved towards Zouk with « Ni Wako Tu » which was praised by the BBC then joining a band before entering the Singeli scene at its height in 2017, effectively joining Sisso Studios. Invited by Nyege Nyege Festival during a Singeli block party in 2018, she then made her first Boiler Room appearance at the festival in Uganda that same year, then playing throughout the region at Africa Nouveau in Nairobi, Sauti Za Busara in Zanzibar and One Love in Kigali.

 

Following the footsteps of her mom, Queen Asher decides to become the first singeli female DJ, changing the game by learning from Sisso, Maiko, Jay Mitta, and others in the scene, first as a DJ then as a producer making beats for her mom and developing a uniquely dangerous duo, premiering at Nyege Nyege in 2022 and at CTM in January 2023, their energy and connection on stage has once again elevated singeli into a whole new dimension, combining Queen Asher’s youthful explosiveness with Rehema Tajiri’s experience and vocal power. In 2023 they played at Roskilde Festival, Primavera Sounds madrid, la Magnifique Society, Le Bourse de Commerce in Paris…