Saida Karoli gyrates to the delight of her fans. Pic by FM Productions

Playing to an audience of more than 3,000 music lovers, Tanzanian folk musician Saida Karoli not only set Zanzibar Old Fort's "Mambo Club" ablaze from the minute she came on stage, encapsulating all with her powerful voice, stage charisma and enthralling set but also confirmed her reputation as the queen of East African music.

Over the four days of the festival, music from the Swahili-speaking world was showcased in a diverse line up of 40 groups and more than 450 artists mostly from East Africa. As well as featuring a broad array of music from Zanzibar, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, artists from Egypt, Yemen, Zimbabwe and Rwanda took part in the event, which must be the greatest celebration of Swahili music and culture that has taken place in the world to date.

Shows started at 4.00 pm every day with free admission until 8.00 pm and a nominal entry fee of TSh500 (about US$0.50) thereafter, guaranteeing a packed house every single night of the festival. The audience included men, women, children of different ages, religions, continents and cultural backgrounds and the atmosphere was buzzing - attentive and respectful, emotional and joyous throughout. Whoever was performing, be it Sufi Muslim religious groups (Maulid ya Homu from Zanzibar), traditional music and dance "ngoma" groups, guitar bands, taarab orchestras or hip hop sensations from around the region, the crowds clearly appreciated the wealth and diversity of music on offer throughout the long weekend.

Juma Nature & Wanaume Family together with Stara Thomas from Tanzania performed at the Festival with a full live band, clearly surprising local crowds and setting the trend for new directions in East African hip hop

Klear Kut from Uganda and Wazenji Kijiwe from Zanzibar were other hip hop highlights that got the biggest cheers for their songs which included real instruments and local rhythms.

Stara Thomas on stage. Pic by Busara Promotions

The event was most of all a celebration of Swahili culture-- its historical traditions were acknowledged with Nadi Ikhwan Safaa (Malindi Taarab Orchestra) from Zanzibar who celebrate one hundred years of playing music in 2005, and of course the festival Guest of Honour Bi Kidude who is almost as old herself yet still manages to drive audiences to a frenzy with her singing and drumming.

" I sing with all my strength and will continue to make people happy until the day I die," Bi Kidude often says.

Yes, it was the women who were the biggest stars of the festival: the 93-year-old Bi Kidude seduced and thrilled the audience with her moving speech at the Opening Ceremony as well as rousing renditions of unyago traditional ngoma performance the following night; Stara Thomas and Saida Karoli for their sheer professionalism and stage presence, and notably the women dancers of Imena Group from Rwanda who were undoubtedly this year's audience favourites. Despite strong competition from all of the groups who had spent months rehearsing for this festival, the fifteen-piece Imena provided a stunning array of choreographed dance, complete with umpteen costume changes. Their sixty-minute performance embodied grace, power and beauty and genuinely seemed to touch all the thousands of people in the venue, of whatever age or nationality.

This year's Arab groups were also favourites with local people and overseas guests alike; Seiyun Popular Arts Group from Hadhramaut in Yemen (who mixed Kiswahili with Arabic and Hindi) and El Tanbura Group from Suez Region in Egypt who also featured a range of traditional music instruments common to the Swahili Coast including sumsummia, a lyre-like instrument common to Nilotic peoples of Africa.

Festival organisers were understandably apprehensive about how the show would turn out for Chibite, after the tragic loss of the two legendary master musicians Dr Hukwe and Charles Zawose who had led the group over the past decade. Worries were needless as Chibite were most definitely another of the festival's highlights, providing insight into the depth and variety of Gogo traditional music and dance from the Dodoma region of Central Tanzania.

The greatest thing about Sauti za Busara's festival programme this year was that it also provided insight into new directions for Swahili music, with some of the leading music fusion groups represented, including Segere Original (from Tanzania mainland coastal region), Afrikali Band (with more of a pan-African sound, also Music Crossroads Winners for Best Group of Southern Africa) and perhaps the greatest surprise of all - the totally fantastic set by Jagwa Music from Dar es Salaam - welcome mchiriku from the Swahili ghetto to the international stage!

'Sauti za Busara, Sounds of Wisdom' is a wonderful new addition to the calendar of arts and cultural events taking place annually on the African Continent. It is the only way to really check out the pulse of what's happening in all sectors of the East African music scene, and there are surely several groups who with proper management and promotion could easily explode on the international "world music" circuit.

The next Sauti za Busara Festival in Zanzibar will be held February 9-12, 2006.

Meanwhile, adds Ogova Ondego, Tanzanian folk musician, Saida Karoli, whose jingle is heard on BBC Kiswahili Service every morning, is set to release an 8-track album and introduce the world to a new dance style in less than four years since her debut album in September 2001. Titled 'Mimi Nakupenda (I love you)' in the yet-to-be popularised Sasambua style, the recording is in Kihaya, Kiswahili and English. This is the fourth album by the popular Bukoba-born singer, composer, dancer and drummer.

A performer in Rwanda’s Imena group. Pic by Busara Promotions

Popular in East and Central Africa, Karoli has performed in mainland Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa, and Zanzibar island where she is almost idolised by fans. Although she sings predominantly in Kihaya, her penetrating vocals readily connect her even with people who do not understand the language of the musician born and brought up in Rwongwe village where Felician Mutta, her manager and producer, discovered, prepared, and ushered her onto the stage of music. Plans are underway to tour the United Kingdom, Scandinavian countries, Canada and USA.

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