Tanzanian hymnody

Tanzania is a particularly fertile location for the development of indigenous hymnody because of the work of a leading African priest, Stephen Mbunga, and the ministry of a Protestant missionary, Howard Olson*, that spanned four decades. Together they offer insight into a process of cultivating congregational song, a pattern followed in other areas of the continent. Authors and Composers Stephen Mbunga The most influential African on the development of indigenous church music in east Africa was Tanzanian Stephen B. G. Mbunga (1927-1982). His doctoral dissertation, Church Law and Bantu Music (1963) takes a fresh look at the documents of the Roman Catholic Church and calls unequivocally...