Art Matters.info :: flaunting arts and culture in Africa

The Zanzibari Culture Musical Club taarab orchestra, with guest artists Bi Kidude and Rukia Ramadhani, continues to thrill music lovers in Europe since May 15. On this fifth European tour by the Culture Musical Club (earlier tours have been in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002), audiences have been mesmerized by the orchestra's instrumentals and songs in the traditional acoustic taarab style, performed on the qanun by Rajab Suleiman, the violins of Kesi Juma and Ramadhan Khamis, along with Ali Hassan ud, Taimur Rukun and Maulidi Haj on accordion, plus double bass and percussion. The featured vocalists are Saada Mohamed, Rukia Ramadhan and Makame Faki. As a very special guest, the 93- year-old Bi Kidude (born Fatuma bint Baraka) sings some of the classical songs in the taarab repertoire, dating to the times of the legendary Siti bint Saad (born Mtumwa Sadi) who was the first East African to make commercial recordings in the late 1920s and was so successful that recording studios were built on the island of Zanzibar specifically for her between 1928 and 1939.

Binti Saad Africanised and popularised Taarab, a music genre that had been introduced in Zanzibar by Sultan Seyyid Barghash Bin Said (1870-1888). It is estimated that she made more than 150 78-rpm records and sold 72,000 records by mid-1931, the number being restricted by the fact that only the wealthy could afford gramophones and discs. Her songs influenced a large proportion of the general population that some scholars attribute the spread of Kiswahili in Africa to her songs. With her humble manner, incredible stage personality, penetrating voice and strength, Bi Kidude is favourite with audiences wherever the group performs. She is the most popular taarab singer in Zanzibar today.

A multi-talented woman, Bi Kidude gets transformed on stage where she sings and plays her drum tirelessly as if she were possessed by the muse of music. Asked how it is possible for a 93-year old to perform with her gusto, Bi Kidude simply says, “How can I stop singing? When I sing I feel like a 14 year-old girl.”

In addition to taarab, the Zanzibar Culture Musical Club also performs in the kidumbak style (wedding music), led by singer Makame Faki, the sanduku playing of Amour Haj. The dancing of Fatma Juma and Mgeni Khamis usually bring the house down, with never-ending demands for encores. Although some music critics had written an orbituary for taarab music, the reception of Culture Music Club proves taarab is far from breathing its last.

Zanzibar Culture Club (1958), was the third taarab orchestra to be founded in Zanzibar after Zanzibar Taarab Orchestra and Ikhwani Safaa Musical Club (Malindi Taarab) that was formed in 1905. It was part of the youth wing of the Afro Shirazi political party during Zanzibar’s struggle for independence before being taken over by the ministry of culture following the overthrow of the sultan in 1964. The aim of the group was-and still is-to protect Taarab traditions and protect Swahili culture.

The group, now independent, performs at various social and state functions back home. Its 15 artists arrived in Paris (France) on May 14, playing their first concert in Nantes on May 15.

After a number of concerts in the western and southwestern parts of France, the orchestra played in Zurich (Switzerland) and Darmstadt (Germany) before heading back to France to play the famous Musiques Métisses World Music Festival in Angoulème for two days and then heading off by plane to Slovenia to play the Druga Godba Festival in Llubljana.

Bi Kidude posing in front of Sagrada Familia Barcelona

The group currently relaxes in the town of Poitiers in Southwestern France, headquarters of their road management company, Run Productions. In the coming week they will play in Paris, the French capital city, for two days: The first night will be a radio concert on France Inter while the second night will be at well-known Café de la Danse concert hall. In July the Culture Musical Club with its guests are playing some of the biggest world music summer festivals all over Europe: First is the Forum of World Cultures Festival in Barcelona (Spain) where the group will play for two days before heading by plane to Sweden to play the Falun Folk Festival. After more concerts in central Europe and France they will be back in Spain (Villanova), play the Womad Festival in Reading to the west of London in the UK, attend a whole week of festivals and concerts in Germany, and finally wind up at the Sfinks festival in Belgium on August 1. The group will return to Zanzibar on August 4.

Like the Zanzibar Culture Musical Club's earlier European tours, this year's tour has been organised by the club's management, Werner Graebner of Jahazi Media in Moerlenbach (Germany), in cooperation with Yorrick Benoist of Run Productions in Poitiers (France).

But even as Zanzibar Culture Music Club swims in European appreciation, pure taarab is not as appreciated back home where musicians are having to eke out a living from taxi driving and keeping guard outside establishments. As the 99-year-old Malindi Taarab group performed at the 7th Zanzibar International Film Festival of the Dhow Countries in Zanzibar, people were heard shouting, “Ondokeni. Tunataka wanamuziki wa Bongo kuja jukwaani ili tukacheze na kuondoa baridi Hatuna wake.” (Please leave the stage as we want Bongo Flavour musicians to perform so we amy dance away the cold. We do not have wives to keep us warm)

To preserve taarab, groups like Zanzibar Modern Taarab and Young Stars Modern Taarab (Segere) are fusing it with various musical styles to keep abreast of the times. The latter, for instance, are fusing taarab with Zaramo and other traditional music found around Dar es Salaam and the coastal region.

In early June, rumours doing rounds in Zanzibar indicated that Bi Kidude had died. Dispelling the rumours, Werner Graebner of Jahazi Media said he had just spoken to Bi Kidude who was in high spirits.

“I have just spoken to her on the phone,” Graebner writes. “As usual her voice is strong and she is always ready to joke. She was very surprised to hear that people in Zanzibar think that she has died.” He reported Bi Kidude as saying: "Sijafa bado. Labda sababu watu hawajaonana nami sasa karibu mwezi. Lakini bado tunaendelea na safari na bado safari ndefu ya miezi miwili. Lakini sijambo, sina wasiwasi miye. Kuimba naimba na nguvu zote ambazo ninazo ili watu wafurahi."

Zanzibari taarab orchestra brings down European house