Zanzibara

Series of records presenting music from the East African coast. "This new collection presents popular Swahili music from the eastern coast of Africa — Lamu, Mombasa, Tanga, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and the Comoros — with archive recordings from the se-1980s supplemented by contemporary recordings of special interest."

So far 6 volumes have been issued.

Catalogue

• Zanzibara 1 - Ikwani Safaa Musical Club (2005); " Vol 1 pays a tribute to Ikhwani Safaa, Zanzibar’s (and probably Africa’s) oldest music club, celebrating its centenary in 2005."

• Zanzibara 2 - 1965-1975 Golden Years of Mombasa Taarab

• Zanzibara 3 - Ujamaa; "The craze for dance music —musiki wa dansi — began in Tanzania in the early 1930s. Cuban rumba records were all the rage and the urban youth organized themselves into 'dance clubs' like the Dar Es-Salaam Jazz Band founded in 1932. A legacy of the earlier brass band fashion, the earliest instrumentation added brass instruments to a layer of local drums. Strings followed —violins, banjos, mandolins and guitars… The recordings in this collection date from 1968 to 1973, in many ways a transitional period for the country. The Arusha Declaration of 1967 paved the way for the country's policy of an African socialism based on values of 'family/community', as illustrated by the term (Ujamaa). ... is generally sweet andd laid back if compared to dance music from neighbouring Kenya or Congo, possibly an extension of the laid-back Tanzaniann life in the 1960s/70s. It is generally built on a bed of two to three guitars and bass guitar, with drums, congas and other percussion having just basing time keeping and colouring functions. The lylrics are usually sung by a chorus rather than a single lead voice, horn sections of trumpets and saxophones punctuate the vocals."

• Zanzibara 4 - Bi Kidude, The Diva of Zanzibari Music; "Bi Kidude («the Little Thing») was born Fatma Bint Baraka in the 1920s in Zanzibar. In 2005 she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at Womex. Bi Kidude first sang the taarab, the region’s most popular style, then she switched to msondo (female initiation songs) for a while before returning to the taarab in the fashionable post-World-War-2 women’s clubs. An emblematic singer throughout the whole region, she is also an acknowledged healer. The recordings presented here span the last twenty years of her career. She is accompanied by various ensembles, among them the famous Culture Musical Club, Zanzibar Taarab All Stars and Afro Arab Groove. Note: A British film devoted to the diva, entitled “As Old as my Tongue, the Myth and Life of Bi Kidude”, was released in the fall 2006."

• Zanzbara 5 - Hot in Dar. The Sound of Tanzania 1978-1983 (CD: Buda 860184, France, 2009); "In the late 70s and early 80s, the city of Dar es-Salaam was one of the richest and most vibrating musical scenes in Africa, with some 25 to 30 professional bands performing in nightclubs and theatres. Tight dialogues between three of four guitars, horn section riffs and unfailing swing characterize this “muziki wa dansi” (dance music). It was not only the music of urban night clubbers but also the sound backdrop of everyday life, thanks to radio broadcast and cassette players. This anthology presents the most famous bands of that period: the “Mlimani Park Orchestra”, “Dar International Orchestra” and “Vijana Jazz Band”."

• Zanzibara 6 - Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble (CD)