![]() ![]() If anything, Teddy Kalanda Harrison is a man of wisdom. He enrolled in a six-month specialized training course at Kenya Society for the Blind and was soon back to performing on stage. He resigned in 2009 after losing his eyesight in a tragic accident, but his resilience kept him going. Back home, he was offered a job as the general manager of the Florida Night Club in Mombasa. He opted to move back to Kenya after only three years due to the harsh discrimination he faced. Unfortunately, his time in Greece wasn’t all he had hoped it would be. He got part-time gigs performing with the Jambo Kenya Cultural Troupe, as well as the Kalimba Band. Teddy’s passion for music run so deep, that even after retirement, he still longed to play. He moved to Greece in 2004 and found employment in the kitchen and cleaning departments of various restaurants. In 2001, at the age of 50, Teddy retired from Them Mushrooms. ![]() They had toured numerous countries across several continents and recorded over 10 albums and singles. He and his band had achieved global success. Three decades later, Teddy had done it all. He proposed that they use ‘Them’ instead and in an instant, Them Mushrooms was formed. They would simply be falling in line with every other band of the time which had ‘The’ as part of their name the Harrisons had to stand out. However, Teddy’s creative antennas felt the name wasn’t catchy enough. At first, they wanted to call themselves ‘The Mushrooms’, after the magical fungi that grow all over East Africa. As the oldest, Teddy was responsible for putting together and naming what is now known to be one of Kenya’s most successful bands. In 1972, the Harrison siblings regrouped and rebranded into Them Mushrooms. Even when he left for college in Uganda, Teddy continued to play music, with the Makerere University Band. They entertained guests at wedding parties and other social functions. While doing his A-levels at Allidina Visram High School, he and his siblings decided to form a family band, which they called Avenida Success. When at preparatory school, he joined the band and played the cymbals, in primary school he learned how to play the guitar and in high school, he and some friends formed their own music group, Air Bonanza. Teddy delved into music at every stage of his school career. He was born Shadrack Joel Mwaringa Harrison (Teddy) on 25th July 1951 in Mombasa County. We’re here instead to celebrate the talented man who wrote it. With the stroke of his pen, Teddy Kalanda Harrison catapulted his band to stardom and introduced Chakacha to the world. The tale of the ideation and composition of this famous song is one of its own. “Jambo Bwana” was released in 1980 and quickly became the country’s tourism anthem. These iconic lyrics have a unique place in Kenyans’ hearts.
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