Chakacha is a traditional music and dance style (a ngoma) of the Swahili people

Swahili people

The Swahili people are a Bantu ethnic group and culture found in East Africa, mainly in the coastal regions and the islands of Kenya, Tanzania and north Mozambique. According to JoshuaProject, the Swahili number in at around 1,328,000. The name Swahili is derived from the Arabic word Sawahil,...

 of coastal Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 and Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

, originally associated to wedding

Wedding

A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...

s and performed and watched by women. In the late 20th century, musical groups such as Mombasa Roots

Mombasa Roots

Mombasa Roots are a Kenyan afropop/hotel pop musical group. They have recorded some of the most successful hit singles in Kenyan pop music, such as Disco Chakacha and Kata...

, Safari Sound Band

Safari Sound Band

Safari Sound Band is a Kenyan hotel pop band. In over twenty years of activity, they were certified platinum four times, and their recordings of Swahili classics such as "Jambo Bwana" and "Malaika" are well-known. They have published a number of CDs, featuring cover versions of African evergreens...

 and Them Mushrooms

Them Mushrooms

Them Mushrooms is a musical band from Kenya, playing mostly Chakacha, some Benga and also some reggae. They are most famous for the Swahili song Jambo Bwana. The band is composed of Teddy Kalanda, Henry Ndenge Saha and Ben Mutwiwa. They mainly do covers of previously written hit songs.The group was...

 have adapted this style to afropop

Afropop

Afropop or Afro-pop may refer to:*African popular music*Afropop Worldwide, a weekly radio program from Public Radio International...

 music.

The hip-swaying dance movements of Chakacha are bear some resemblance with both Congolese

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

 soukous

Soukous

Soukous is a dance music genre that originated in the two neighbouring countries of Belgian Congo and French Congo during the 1930s and early 1940s, and which has gained popularity throughout Africa...

 dances and Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

ern belly dance

Belly dance

Belly dance or Bellydance is a "Western"-coined name for a traditional "Middle Eastern" dance, especially raqs sharqi . It is sometimes also called Middle Eastern dance or Arabic dance in the West, or by the Greco-Turkish term çiftetelli...

s.