African Ngoma was born in 1996 as Amani Ngoma Troupe, but because the name was similar to that of another successful Zanzibar group Imani Ngoma, it was decided to change their name to African Ngoma in 2004.

The main aims of establishing this group were to help protect and preserve the rich traditional music heritage of Tanzania, offer traditional and contemporary music training and performances as well as to conduct research on traditional music.

The leader of the group, Kornely Kijogoo and some of the artists have much experience in the field, having participated in festivals locally and internationally. Countries they have performed in already include Germany, Italy, Sweden, Egypt, Kenya, Korea, Finland, Holland, Russia and England.