User:Muddyb/Lister Elia

Lister Elia is a Tanzanian professional musician who currently resides in Japan. Elia was raised in a very religious family, his father being the minister of an Anglican Church of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika. He was fond of music, and started playing the piano in church at the age of six. He decided to pursue a music career and graduated from Ruhija School of Music in Bukoba, Tanzania, going on to study in Wiesen, Austria. After moving to Japan, he enrolled himself for another school of music (MATE School of Music) to further his musical studies.

Elia joined the Orchestra King Kikii Double O, a band owned by Maestro King Kiki. He later joined and led the Benebene Group. His third band was Orchestra Sambulumaa Band, then Orchestra Safari Sound (Ndekule), and finally, when he was in Tanzania, he worked with the MK Group, playing keyboards on the song "Maumivu Makali".

After spending a year with the Sambulumaa Band and recording the entire first album, he left the band to join Orchestra Safari Sound in 1988. This move was engineered by Abel Baltazar, a scout who was one of the leaders at Orchestra Safari Sounds. Lister Elia also lived and worked for sometime in Nairobi, Kenya, before he traveled to Japan and made his permanent settlement there.

In Nairobi, Elia played piano at the Jacaranda Hotel, and appeared with The Flames Band at Cassino- Galileo Hall and Tuna Tree Restaurant, Lessa Lassan’s Popolipo and Tchiakatumba. In Japan he teamed up with his boyhood friend Fresh Jumbe, a former bandmate at Orchestra Safari Sound. They formed a group called “The Tanzanites Band-Tokyo. Lister's best known keyboard work included "Maumivu Makali" and "Mapenzi ya adhabu" by MK Group, "Kadiri Mke Wangu" by Orchestra Sambulumaa,, Mayombo by "Orchestra Sambulumaa"" , and "Mama Happy" (a hit song), which he also wrote when he was with Sambulumaa . In addition to his career as a professional musician, Elia is a music teacher and an author wgi has published three books: The Mystery of Tamko's Death, ;;Jifunze Gitaa and ;;Piano.