- Fund raising
- Music video Nini Dhambi - watch now
- More about the sudden death of Nelson Rutta
- Nelly passed away
X PLASTAZ FUND RAISING IN SUPPORT OF FAZA NELLY’S FAMILY
The members of X Plastaz and the family of Nelson Chrizostom Buchard ('Faza Nelly') in Arusha and Chicago would like to ask your help to cover some of the expenses which have been and are being made after Nelly died on the 29th of March, 2006.
Why are we asking for financial help?
The recent funeral and the matanga (mourning) in Arusha which took almost a week, hosted hundreds of people who came to the family's house, the church and the graveyard. The cost for the family has been immense and included paying for hospital costs, food, transport, and other costs typically related to a funeral. And the cost is still rising: we want to organize a proper tomb stone to cover the spot where Faza Nelly was laid to rest, a tomb stone cost about 400.000 Tsh (about 330 U$).
Then there's the police case in search of Moses Kilevo, the man that murdered Nelly. The investigation has been proceeding quite slowly and the family has decided to assist the police in finding the killer. The family has had to constantly fuel the investigation, pay for cabs to drive the police officers around all the way into the countryside and beyond in what has become an international manhunt in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Also they had to print thousands of posters announcing the search for the murderer, make many phone calls to verify information about his whereabouts and have money ready for the reward of 500.000 Tsh (about 410 U$) for the information leading to his arrest... And even though people have been helpful and willing to share information, the killer is still on the run and as time goes by, the chances that he gets away are getting bigger.
The total cost now runs into millions of Tanzanian shillings (thousands of dollars), most of which has been put up by Nelly's family. They have already accumulated debts to pay for all this and don't have any financial reserves left, so the only option remaining is to ask for help from you and other friends.
What is there to be done?
For now we ask anyone who is financially capable of donating any sum of money, to use the Paypal system to donate to our Paypal account which uses the e-mail address rahh@xs4all.nl. This is the e-mail address of X Plastaz manager Thomas (J4) and he will ensure that every dollar cent will be sent directly to the X Plastaz family in Arusha and Chicago (Nelly's brother Gsan lives in Chicago with his wife), who have been in charge of the funeral process and who are now after the killer together with the Tanzanian police. You can find a Paypal button at www.xplastaz.com - just click that button and follow instructions. You will need a credit card and a Paypal account, opening up an account is matter of seconds.
If you want to send a personal check or money order please send an email to rahh@xs4all.nl and we'll give you the address details.
X Plastaz would like to stress that every dollar of help is really appreciated, even a minimal donation will help.
Clicking the Donate button below will take you to the Paypal.com secure site. If you want your donation to be used for a specific purpose, please indicate this when you send the Paypal transaction.
What's next?
Through the website www.xplastaz.com we will continue to give updates about the situation in Tanzania and the search for the killer of Nelly.
Also in the coming weeks X Plastaz will release a new promo single of 'Hiyo', one of the last tracks Nelly recorded, and the video 'Nini dhambi' which was premiered to Tanzanian television, will be released to various tv stations around the world including MTV Africa and the Box (Holland).
Feel free to send people the link to the X Plastaz site so that they will know about the tragedy that occurred. Thanks to everyone who has shown their support and love in these difficult times.
On behalf of X Plastaz and Nelly’s family,
Thomas Gesthuizen (Juma4)
Manager X Plastaz
NEW: MUSIC VIDEO NINI DHAMBI SHOT ON ACTIVE VOLCANO - WATCH NOW
Amsterdam, April 20006 - In 2002, X Plastaz recorded the track 'Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki' to a beat supplied by dj 360 in Amsterdam.
The video was shot in September 2004 on the active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai (the Mountain of God to the Maasai people) and in the slums of Arusha. The editing had just been completed earlier this month, 2 days before Nelly was stabbed. In the same week he died, the volcano had its first major eruption in years...
This video is among the last works that Faza Nelly completed on this earth, and it is being distributed in his memory.
Watch now
High bandwidth needed - these files are about 15 MB size
· Realplayer stream
· Windows Media Player stream
· Quicktime (right-click to download Quicktime movie)
Photo right: X Plastaz on the steep and dangerous descent from Ol Doinyo LengaiThe video was planned to be released along with a new single containing a double a-side: the new track 'Hiyo' and 'Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki'. Since Tanzania's Channel 10 did a report about Nelly's funeral, they premiered the video on Tanzanian television on the 8th of April. The video is on its way to other stations including MTV Africa (enquire here if you work for a tv station and want to broadcast), and the Hiyo! single is being pressed.
The track 'Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki' is about the poor and have-nots of society (click here for lyric translation). Nelly wrote the song from his own experiences and from talking to other people in the streets. This is one of X Plastaz songs that shows the exceptional talent Nelly had for painting a vivid picture with his lyrics.
Photo right: the hill on which Nelly recorded the 3rd verse has been blown away by last month's eruption as you can see on this photo by Dean Polley.The video shows Nelly in three settings: Unga Limited, a poor and dangerous slum in Arusha; Eluwai, the Maasai village of X Plastaz member Yamat; and the top of the Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano. The latter (also the setting of the Tomb Raider 2 movie) is located in a remote and hard to reach part of Tanzania, and X Plastaz (Gsan, Yamat, Nelly and Juma4) had to get a Landrover, drive out there and climb at night (60% steep rock path) to reach the summit at sunrise, to film between the smoking hornitos which spit lava regularly. Although the volcano was slumbering when the video was recorded, it spit out a large and dangerous lava flow in the same week Nelly's died, and thousands of people in the area had to be evacuated.
Thanks to Brian Rippon for letting us use his panorama shots of the mountain in the music video. Respect to everyone who helped in the creation of this video including the hip hop heads of Unga Limited, the people of Eluwai, Manuel Rodrigues (post production assistance), ODB (driver) and Captain. Video shot, directed & edited by Juma4.
MORE ABOUT THE SUDDEN DEATH OF NELSON RUTTA
ARUSHA, 4 APRIL 2006 - The short update below was sent out to Tanzanian media by Juma4, manager of X Plastaz who came over together with Nelly's brother Gsan and Gsan's wife Kiki for the funeral and matanga (mourning) on the 31st of March. With this text we tried to sum up some of the facts surrounding the tragic and sudden death of Faza Nelly, one of Africa's hip hop heroes and an icon in his local scene of Arusha, northern Tanzania.
On monday 27 March, emcee Faza Nelly (Nelson Chrizostom Rutta) from Arusha, Northern Tanzania was stabbed 9 times with a knife by his neighbour, Moses Yohana Kilevo. Two days later he died from the results of the stabbing as the knife had severely damaged his lungs.
Faza Nelly was a member of X Plastaz, a rap group of six from Arusha whose work is known worldwide through their concert tours to places such as Brazil, Uk and Holland, an album released worldwide and tracks which appeared on compilations such as the Rough guide to African Rap. The group became popular through their own brand of East African hip hop, which is a merger of hardcore beats, Swahili rhymes and traditional acappella Maasai music sung by a Maasai warrior who spends most of his time in a traditional environment on the Maasai steppe.
THE MURDER
Nelly was murdered by Moses Yohana Kilevo, a neighbour who had been terrorizing his neighbourhood for some time with unappropriate behaviour such as writing 'I am a killer' on the walls of his shared compound, which was also home to neighbours' kids. This behaviour had caused the neighbours to sign a petition to evict him, but to no avail. When Musa, one of Nelly's friends who lived in the same house, tried to talk to Moses, he was arrested by police for false robbery charges - it was Moses who had sent this complaint.
Nelly tried to get Musa out of jail and talked to the police who asked him to return with neighbours to testify, then he went home to try to talk to Moses. Moses however got angry and wanted to fight Nelly, who then decided to evade problems and go back to his own room. Seconds later, Moses came out of his room with a big rambo knife and stabbed Nelly 9 times in several places including his nose, armpits and lungs.
There was never a fight, and Nelly according to his family and environment was a totally peaceful person who would never harm anyone, he showed compassion to the 'have-nots' of society as can be heard in his lyrics such as 'Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki'. Also in this case he could not even defend himself against the attack from the back.
Nelly spent 2 days in hospital where he was put to a breathing machine. He had surgery two times, but after the second time his condition suddenly dropped and he died in the presence of doctors and his friend Musa.
THE KILLER - REWARD OF 500.000 TSHThe killer, Moses Yohana Kilevo, was a regular person with a family (wife and 2 kids), other than what was mentioned in the Tanzanian press before, he was not a 'kichaa' (insane). However he was known to be a rude and unpleasant person to his neighbourhood. Moses fled away after stabbing Nelly and has not been seen again. Arusha police are investigating and chances are that he may have fled to Nairobi where he has relatives. A reward for bringing the killer out has been put up by the family to the value of 500.000 Tanzanian shillings. See photo.
E-mail us here if you know more about the whereabouts of the killer.
THE FUNERAL
Because the family wanted to wait until Nelly's brother Godson (Gsan, also a member of X Plastaz) returned from Chicago along with his wife and X Plastaz manager Thomas Gesthuizen (J4), the 'matanga' (mourning ceremony) took four days, and Nelly was buried on the fifth day.
The mourning attracted hundreds of youth and elders from Arusha and beyond, including Kamaa from Kalamashaka and Black, another Kenyan emcee. The funeral itself took place in Njiro (Arusha) and attracted over 1000 attendants: 40 dala-dala's (matatus) had to be used to carry everyone who didn't have their own transport.
At the funeral. Click for large image.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR X PLASTAZ
At present it's not sure how X Plastaz as a group will continue on. Most likely the emcees will continue the work set out by Nelly; a vision of spreading conscious lyrics, 'healing society' as Nelly would say, while entertaining at the same time.
X Plastaz had just finished a new music video: 'Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki' which was a solo track by Nelly about the fate of poor people in Tanzania. The video shows him in Unga Limited, a local Arusha getto, in the Maasai steppe around Mto wa Mbu, and on top of Ol Doinyo Lengai, an active volcano which is the 'Mountain of god' to the Maasai people in the area (in fact, the volcano had its first big eruption in years the day after Nelly died). The video was released to Tanzanian television on the day of the burial.
They were also about to release a cd-single of the track 'Hiyo' which can be listened to online at www.myspace.com/xplastaz
NELLY AKA FAZA PASSED AWAY
ARUSHA, 30 MARCH 2006 - Faza Nelly, one of the founding members of Tanzanian rap group X Plastaz, passed away last night. Nelly had been admitted to hospital with wounds inflicted by a knife that a psychotic neighbour had used to attack him. Doctors had hope of curing him, but the damage to his lungs proved too severe.
If you want to extend condolences to his family and friends please leave a message in the X Plastaz guestbook.
Nelly's death has shocked his family, friends and the international music community who have expressed their grief in the condolence register at the X Plastaz website. He will be buried the coming weekend and his brother and group member Gsann will come over from the USA to attend the funeral.
With the passing of Nelly, the hip hop community has lost a modest but highly skilled emcee whose lyrics were tales from the grassroots of society. He showed a great respect for the natural treasures of Tanzania and for traditional culture, such as in the song 'Aha' (see video here). Nelly truly cared for the community and the poor & helpless and was never tempted to go with the trend of Tanzanian rap to become more commercial and less about the hardships of the common people. At the same time he knew how to enjoy life and his sense of humour never failed to break the ice with people from all over the world.
In his travel with the group he got to see different parts of the world such as Belgium, UK and Brazil. He was booked to perform in Gabon (West-central Africa) in early June, and a music video featuring him rapping on top of the holy mountain of the Maasai (the active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai) was about to be released in Tanzania along with the new single 'Hiyo' which is also on the new Kunta Kinte Clothing mixtape (see the X Plastaz Myspace page for audio).
Older news here
