DAR ES SALAAM, May 8 -- NO bridge in Tanzania has managed to sneak itself so comfortably into public affection quite like the good old Selander Bridge in Dar es Salaam.

Long before drone operators discovered they could make ordinary infrastructure look like scenes from a Netflix documentary and before every government brochure began using phrases like “world-class connectivity” with the confidence of a man selling plots in the ocean, Selander had already achieved something much rarer. It became national emotional property. Not through politics. Not through engineering awards.

Not even through ribbon-cutting ceremonies where officials clap like they personally mixed the cement. But through music. The late maestro Marijani Raj...