Omari Amonde, 1940–2015

Omari Amonde (signs OJAJAMONDE) was born in 1940 in the village of Nakapanya, Tunduru district, in the Rovuma region of southern Tanzania. He first left home in 1957 to work on a sisal estate in Tanga, and in 1960 he traveled to Dar es Salaam for the first time in search of work. By 1972, he had settled permanently in the capital.

Amonde was the “half-brother” of E.S. Tingatinga and the oldest of all Tingatinga painters still active in his time. He worked alongside E.S. Tingatinga in 1972 until Tingatinga’s death. Amonde was widely regarded as the last legitimate heir to Tingatinga’s artistic legacy and served as Chairman of the Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society (TACS).

He passed away in February 2015.

source: “Tinga Tinga, the popular paintings from Tanzania,” Y. Goscinny and “Art in Tanzania 2000,” Y. Goscinny