black titanic 105to choir members in 2009, has to be viewed as part of a larger tradition of
popularized church music. According to Barz (2003), Tanzanian kwaya
groups produce kandas, as audiocassettes are called in Swahili, for a num-
ber of reasons:
First and foremost is the preservation and documentation of musical
repertoires.... Kwaya members and the congregations they minister want
to listen to their kwaya’s hit tunes when they return home. In addition,
kwayas also use their kandas as fundraisers to promote the activities of the
kwaya. Probably most significant for many members of kwayas is the role
kandas assume in the evangelizing effort of the church. The current popu-
larization of kwaya music has enabled kwayas to “send their messages”
beyond their home communities to a greater population. (127)A good-quality cassette of a choir’s repertoire becomes the source of con-
siderable prestige, both for the choir and the church with which it is as-
sociated. On its return home from the recording session in Nairobi, the
Nyasho Kwaya brought back a master tape and 200 audio-cassette cop-
ies, which were subsequently sold among church members and friends
around Musoma. Inspired by the successful sale of that first collection of
cassettes, the choir approached gmc, a Dar es Salaam–based distributor,
to market its album nationwide. Since this cassette would now have to
compete with the huge number of kwaya tapes in music stores, the choir
needed a cover that would attract attention. The cassette, which contains
twelve songs, was named Titanic. Its cover was dominated by a still from
Cameron’s film—a long shot of the Titanic under full steam—which was
taken from the internet by a pastor who was on friendly terms with the
choir and helped design the jacket (see figure 3.5). The title and cover made
the cassette stand out nicely from the mass of kwaya tapes, whose jackets
typically sport images of the choirs and their instruments (Barz 2003).
Above all, it tied in very well with the keen interest in the myth of the
Titanic, which Cameron’s film had sparked in Tanzania around 2000. It is
therefore safe to assume that although the Holly wood movie did not serve
as the inspirational source for the song, it certainly helped boost sales of
the cassette and send the choir’s message to a larger audience.^8
The Nyasho Kwaya song turns the story of the Titanic into a parable
about the end of the world, according to Adventist conviction. The generic
form of the parable invokes church sermons and the preaching of Jesus