FEW PEOPLE ARE AWARE OF THE PASSing away of Frank Humplick, the
gifted singer, guitarist and composer of many
melodies that though
recorded more than 50 years ago, still never fail to entertain the
present generation and stir memories of yesteryears for those who lived
through those times. Frank Humplick, died in Lushoto on Saturday
August 25, 2007. Frank Humplick was born on April 3, 1927, on his
father’s farm in Moshi. Frank, as he was popularly known, was baptised
Franz Yosef Humplick. His father was a Swiss civil engineer and his
mother was a Chagga. His father, Yosef Humplick, was among the
engineers who built the Tanga-Arusha railway line at the turn of the
20th century. Frank’s death passed unnoticed outside Lushoto
despite his being a giant among East African musicians of his time. One
has only to visit the record library of the Radio Tanzania Dar es
Salaam or the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation to realise how prolific a
composer Frank was. The musician was a household name in East
Africa competing with others of his time like Salum Abdallah, Mwenda
Jean Bosco, Eduardo Massengo, Fadhili William, Fundi Konde, John Mwale
and Daudi Kabaka among others. Unlike the deaths of his peers,
which made national news, Humplick’s passing was announced in a small
column in one of the national dailies. Those who have listened to
Humplick’s music will agree that it is timeless. Each composition is
unique and carries that unique Humplick signature in the melody and
guitar work. Listening to his songs, the flavour is still the same as
it was when he first entertained his fans. He was backed on the vocals
by his two sisters — Techla Clara and Maria Regina — and the Jambo Boys
Band of Nairobi. His most memorable composition is Harusi, which
he recorded with his sisters in the 1950s and which has become a
wedding anthem in East Africa. This song was later recorded in Sweden
by the late Patrick Balisidja of Tanzania and the Archimedes, a Swedish
band in the late 1970s. Harusi and other composition by Humplick were
later recorded by the Harrison brothers of Them Mushrooms now known as
Uyoga. The band introduced his music to the present generation.
The recordings by such young musicians such as Them Mushrooms and
Balisidja gave Humplick’s music a new lease of life and a touch of
modernity. Growing up in Moshi and attending Majengo Middle School in
the early 1960s as a young boy, I used to see young Humplick riding his
motorbike with a guitar strapped to the back seat. Our school gate
overlooked his parent’s house across the road. The house still
stands. Humplick was a popular figure even with children,
particularly because of his song Kwenye kabati kuna nyoka (There is a
snake in the cupboard) which was very popular for its satire depicting
the musician as a schoolteacher teaching English to students who found
it difficult to grasp the real meaning of English vocabulary. After
several sessions, he started narrating to me his life after being
discharged from the King’s African Rifles at the end of World War Two
in 1945. Sykes said that, in his opinion, the most appropriate person
for me to talk to about that period was his friend and business partner
of many years, Peter Colmore. SYKES THEN CALLED COLMORE in
Nairobi and it was arranged that I travel to Nairobi to talk to him. I
interviewed Colmore at his Muthaiga residence and had the chance to see
his photo archive comprising photos of musicians whose songs he had
produced. But Mzee Humplick would later tell me that
his favourite songs were the ones which he recorded with his sisters
such as Harusi, Wanipenda Juu Kwa Juu, Ponda Mali Hujafa and
others. Indeed listening to his music, many people’s favourites
are are precisely those songs he sang with his sisters. Nevertheless,
he recorded very memorable work with renowned guitarists Fundi Konde,
Fadhili William and Eduardo Massengo at the peak of his carrier.
Back in Dar es Salaam, I asked Sykes about Humplick. He showed me an
old photograph of himself Humplick and Peter Colmore taken in Moshi in
the early 1950s.This was the last time I saw my friend Frank
Humplick.Not many people, even his contemporaries were aware of his
whereabouts since he bowed out from the stage. Humplick lived a
dignified, comfortable and quiet life in Lushoto. However, he was an
important personality in the township community and in the local
church. This is the reason why his funeral was well attended. An
album containing the same 25 songs that I bought in Mombasa was cut in
the US. Ambassador Mohamed Maharage Juma (Tanzania’s envoy to
Democratic Republic of Congo) who shares my taste in music since our
schooldays, saw the album in New York at the residence of the late
Ambassador Tatu Nuru, a contemporary of Humplick. When I asked
Humplick about this, he said he was not aware of the album just as he
was oblivious of the fact that his audio cassettes were selling like
hot cake in Kenya.