Sentiments as Dar’s iconic Club Bilicanas is flattened

Dar es Salaam. The curtain has fallen for Tanzania’s arguably nostalgic club with a history spanning decades. Club Bilicanas is as old as Tanzania herself which gained independence in 1961, but that will now remain just in memories.

The club, which saw the birth of many Bongo Flava artistes and was Dar es Salaam’s face of clubbing for years, is now rubble. It was flattened last week in controversial circumstances.

The iconic club, the easily recognised among expert rites of yonder years, suffered a fallout between its current owner, Mbowe Hotels Ltd and the landlord, the National Housing Corporation (NHC).

NHC ordered the building in which the club was housed demolished after frantic attempts by the tenant to save it failed.

Mbowe Hotels lost a court case against NHC which he accused of seeking to throw him out of the building “for political reasons.”

It was a nostalgic moment as the once great meeting point, which some revellers simply referred to as ‘Bilz,’ was finally reduced to rubbles. This was a place where plenty of history for many were made.

The club, which was located in the heart of the city - just a five-minute walk from both the New and Old General Post office - was home to some of the greatest parties the city has ever witnessed.

To most revellers, both local and foreign, this was the reference point when it came to entertainment in the commercial capital.

The sound of bulldozers pulling down the final remains after tenants of the property were evicted several months ago, was heart wrenching to an average party-goer of the days gone by.

The reason behind the disagreement on the tenancy between the proprietors, Mbowe Hotels Ltd and the National Housing Corporation remains a mystery as both sides have continued to trade claims even as demolitions were executed.

Though owners might chose to relocate, there will never be a place with a history of this nature as many revellers admit there will never be another Club Bilicanas.

What revellers say

Nassor Ally, 42, recalls his formative years and how he would have to save to gain admission at the nightclub and incidentally this was the place where he first took his wife for their first dance.

“Unlike our fathers, when we were growing up a few joints had come up but for a party night to be complete you had to go to Bilicanas, even with places like California Dreamers opening up in the mid 90s, there was something unique about this place,” says the electronic equipment businessman.

Some of these new joints such as California Dreamers and Mambo Club which was in Oysterbay did not stand the test of time as they soon failed to match the competition.

To many young men like Nassor, Club bilicanas was the epitome of vintage entertainment in Tanzania that every night club used as a benchmark of success.

Mosse Sakar who has been an influential figure behind the scenes overseeing the rise of certain artistes, says Bilz was like the Mecca of entertainment in Tanzania.

“There came a time when young men had to work so hard in the mines like Mererani just to come and get the feel of this night club,” says Sakar.

With the birth of a new genre, Bongo Flava, many careers took off from there with the latter years seeing the club come up with what they christened as Bongo Flava Night.

“Many stars used this club as the setting for their videos and remember one of the very first Bongo movies, ‘Girl Friend’ was shot at the Bilicanas,” adds Sakar.

His memories are rather vivid of the pre-performance gigs that artistes such as Werrason, Extra Musica and many others performed at the nightclub before going elsewhere.

Rich history

The club, which first opened its doors in the late 1960s then known as Mbowe Hotels, was the first to host disco performances in a city that was then littered with cinema halls such as New Odeon, Empire, Avalon and many others that provided entertainment.

“When I first started working with Mzee [Freeman Mbowe’s father, Aikaeli], he was at Splendid Bar which was located at the current location where the Extelecoms House is, but then one day we woke up and we, the workers, were told we were moving to a new place,” says a former worker of the Bilicanas.

As it turned out, the new place was a stone’s throw away and it was New Paris Hotel which was effectively named Mbowe Hotels towards the end of 1972.

This was in an era when black Africans had started owning businesses especially in entertainment following nationalisation of the economy which came with the Arusha Declaration in 1967.

“Some of these places such as ‘Splendid Bar’ were no go areas before nationalisation as they were restricted to certain races even though not formally,” adds the 62-year-old.

In the beginning, the new joint focused on catering and accommodation with, occasionally, hosting some of the famous bands and musicians such as Tanzanian icon Marijani Rajabu and Msondo Ngoma band.

“On such days when these bands performed, the place would be full with nowhere to turn to as such gigs were not common in the city,” he says.

Despite Congolese music being famous at that time, the club distinguished itself with a rare taste of European and American tunes which were not common in Tanzania then.

Change of reign and name

With time, the Mbowe Hotels needed a breath of fresh air as the senior Mbowe, Aikaeli, was getting weary and could not match the rigorous of the competitive industry.

This marked the beginning of renaissance especially with the market economy taking shape and more competition coming in.

The old man, Aikaeli Mbowe, retired and handed over the reins to his son, Freeman. Armed with creativity, he redesigned the hotel to turn it into a fully fledged night club.

He came in with his own changes and that included a new name RSVP to reflect a touch of the changing class that had a completely different taste of entertainment.

But this name didn’t last that long as the new administrator chose to redesign to match with developments of the clubs in other parts of the world. The facility was then given a distinct taste in night life.

With the redesign and a new name, ‘Club Bilcanas’ in 1992, a new dawn and era of entertainment that would last for 22 years ushered in the city of Dar es Salaam.

Now that a tenancy row has led to the flattening of the facility, this club joins some of the once iconic buildings and centres already erased, including the Drive Inn Cinema which was located where the current Zantel head offices are and the once popular coffee shop known as ‘Salamanda’ which was located along Samora Avenue.