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Tinga Tinga Tales
Tinga Tinga Tales.png
GenreChildren's Television
Voices ofEugene Muchiri
Shaun Parkes
Johnnie Fiori
Lenny Henry
Patrice Naiambana
Miriam Margolyes
Theme music composerEric Wainaina
Aaron Rimbui
Opening theme"Tinga Tinga Tinga"
Country of origin
  • United Kingdom
  • Kenya
Original languagesEnglish
Swahili
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes52[1]
Production
Running time11 minutes
Production companies
Release
Original networkCBeebies
Original release1 February 2010 (2010-02-01) –
31 March 2011 (2011-03-31)

Tinga Tinga Tales is a British flash animated children's television series based on African folk tales and aimed at 4 to 6-year-olds. It was commissioned by the BBC for its CBeebies channel, and by Disney Channel for its Disney Junior block. Named after Tingatinga art from Tanzania,[2] Tinga Tinga Tales was produced in Nairobi, Kenya, by Homeboyz Animation,[3] a studio of approximately 50 people.[2] The music is produced by Kenyan singer-songwriter Eric Wainaina.[4] The series comprises 55 episodes and is also available on BBC iPlayer.

The series was first conceived by Claudia Lloyd, head of animation at the London-based Tiger Aspect Productions, while travelling through Africa. The first three episodes premiered on the BBC website in early February 2010. The distribution rights have been bought by Entertainment Rights (which in 2009 merged with Classic Media, then in 2012 it was acquired by DreamWorks Animation and renamed into DreamWorks Classics, and ultimately became the property of Universal Television in 2016).[5]

Synopsis

Tinga Tinga Tales is centred around various animated animals, and employs music, dialogue and colourful imagery to tell African folk tales about the origins of animals, each narrated by Red Monkey, and answer questions such as "Why do monkeys swing in the trees?" and "Why do flamingos stand on one leg?".[6]

Characters

Main characters

African characters

North American characters

Asian characters

Ocean characters

Mysterious characters

Episodes

Pilot (2008)

Series 1 (2010)

Series 2 (2010–11)

References

  1. ^ Chonghaile, Clar Ni (8 July 2010). "Tinga Tinga puts Kenyan animation on the map". The Africa Report. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b Gibson, Owen (26 June 2008). "BBC to tell children why giraffes have long necks in Tinga Tinga Tales". The Guardian/. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  3. ^ Bynum, Aaron H. (20 November 2009). "Africa Animation in 'Tinga Tinga Tales'". animationinsider.net. Animation Insider. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012.
  4. ^ The BBC Archived 4 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine on Tinga Tinga Tales: Music by Eric Wainaina.
  5. ^ The Times Archived 12 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine on Entertainment Rights
  6. ^ "Tinga Tinga Tales". abc.net.au/. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.

External links

Categories