Kayumba, the teen who defied odds to win BSS

He was only 11 when talent search show Bongo Star Search first hit TV screens across the country and to him to be on the show was something that seemed like a far-fetched thought.

Eight years later, on Friday October 9, he was declared the ultimate winner of the final contest at the King Solomon Hall in Dar es Salaam.

With the confetti falling and the deafening cheers growing louder in the hall, he had triumphed on a stage that has eluded so many before him something that took him some while to believe as well.

“It has taken so long for this whole winning thing to sink because it was such a contest that could have gone anywhere to anyone,” says Kayumba Juma.

He had wowed the audience with his careful song selection which resonated with almost everyone and above all he had beaten his roommate Fonabo.

“This was a contest where we were looking for votes so you had to do something that attracts the attention of the audience both in the hall and on TV,” he says.

According to Kayumba, his stage management and dancing were his other major strength.

His main objective when he decided to go for the auditions was to get a platform where he can showcase his talent to the rest of the country.

He had one problem though, and that was the stinging remarks of Judge Salama Jabir who he says was quite contrary to the perception he had in the beginning.

“I had always believed that I had something musical in me but I did not have a platform where I could show the world what I was really capable of, so I saw this as my moment of making it,” says the 19-year-old.

As much as winning was the ultimate goal for every contestant including himself he believes that the platform that BSS offers is priceless.

“I am sure that even before I release my first record, there are thousands who not only know my name but also know my story and there is no way you are going to get that easily,” he says.

Now that he has become one of the latest teenage millionaires in the country, he wants to make his win change his family’s status.

“I come from a very poor family and the best thing that I can do is to use this money to build for my father and my siblings a house,” he says with nostalgia.

Throughout the chat Kanumba hardly mentions his mother and it is then that he opens up saying that his father and mother separated when he was still young leaving behind three of them.

“Though we are what you can call a broken family, that however, has not stopped us from being one,” he says.

Kayumba who was born and raised in Manzese, a high density suburb in Dar es Salaam first started honing his musical skills at Mazuu’s studios after he dropped out of school.

“When I finished my Standard 7 I was told of this man who was recruiting talented singers. This is because there wasn’t much that I was doing at home because my father could not afford to pay my school fees to continue with secondary education,” says Kanumba who is the first born in a family of seven.

It was here that the pint-sized singer first learnt his earliest lessons in music for a period of one year.

In the two years before his relative discovered that he was talented, Kayumba tried his hands on some petty business which unfortunately didn’t work out.

“I used to hawk some second hand shoes which would help me make ends meet given the situation at home,” he says.

According to him despite learning very important lessons at Mazuu, he had to leave the studio in search for other opportunities; his search took him to Temeke.

“I left Mazuu to join ‘Mkubwa Na Wanae’ in Temeke and that is why many people think that I am from Temeke.”

His adventure in Temeke is full of tales as he had to walk some 20km on foot to Temeke daily for the practice sessions.

“When the management saw my efforts they welcomed me, though I was yet to perform with Yamoto,” he says.

Now with the contest over with a Sh50 million prize money in his bank account, Kayumba isn’t taking anything granted, he wants to concentrate on his music.

“I have heard of the jibe that Bongo Star Search winners don’t make it big out there, but as far as I am concerned there is every reason for me to make it,” says Kanumba.

May be he has a reason to believe now that he will be under the Tip Top connection management, an entity that has managed several successful Bongo Flava stars.

“I am planning to go back to Mkubwa Na Wanae and as far as the choice of music that I plan to do is concerned it is all about what the management thinks is right because at the end of the day it is a business,” he says.

At such a tender age Kayumba believes in the ethics of hard work .

“Nothing  will ever bring money to your doorstep, you have to work for everything in this world and if you ask me, I think I have experienced that better than many of my peers,” he says with a wry smile.