The First Two Weeks of February
It's hard to believe I'm halfway through my last month in Zanzibar. The last two weeks have been very busy, in particular thanks to the music festival, Sauti za Busara ("Sounds of Wisdom"), which took place between February 7 and 10. I was very impressed at how professionally this festival was run, and I was blown away by a large majority of the acts, most of which came from across Africa.
The first act I saw was N'faly Kouyaté and his band Dunyakan, from Guinea. The main singer played a traditional kora wearing a beautiful traditional robe, which he threw off halfway through the act to reveal hip hop-style clothing underneath. Another favourite was the group Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba, from Mali. This group won the BBC World Music Award Album of the Year 2007, and I would definitely recommend picking up their CD if you can track it down. Eric Wainaina from Kenya was another highlight, as was Yunasi, also Kenyan (except for their French female accordion player, very reminiscent of The Arcade Fire). Jakamoyo was also excellent; the group from Bagamoyo, Tanzania, does very energetic traditional drumming and dancing.
Finally, there was the legendary Bi Kidude - "Bi" is short for "Bibi," a respectful term for an older woman, which also means "grandmother." This Zanzibari woman has been singing traditional Taarab music for the past century or so - her age is unknown, and guesses at it reach Biblical, or should I say Quranic proportions. She drinks beer, smokes cigarettes, and has an amazing stage presence and a deep, rich voice which I didn't expect to hear coming out of the very slight woman.
Besides the music festival, there were visits from several friends, including Alex and Adam, a dinner party, and a trip to the south of the island with a Zanzibari friend. Instead of describing all of this in great detail, I've posted pictures (which include photos from the music festival) in this album:
The first act I saw was N'faly Kouyaté and his band Dunyakan, from Guinea. The main singer played a traditional kora wearing a beautiful traditional robe, which he threw off halfway through the act to reveal hip hop-style clothing underneath. Another favourite was the group Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba, from Mali. This group won the BBC World Music Award Album of the Year 2007, and I would definitely recommend picking up their CD if you can track it down. Eric Wainaina from Kenya was another highlight, as was Yunasi, also Kenyan (except for their French female accordion player, very reminiscent of The Arcade Fire). Jakamoyo was also excellent; the group from Bagamoyo, Tanzania, does very energetic traditional drumming and dancing.
Finally, there was the legendary Bi Kidude - "Bi" is short for "Bibi," a respectful term for an older woman, which also means "grandmother." This Zanzibari woman has been singing traditional Taarab music for the past century or so - her age is unknown, and guesses at it reach Biblical, or should I say Quranic proportions. She drinks beer, smokes cigarettes, and has an amazing stage presence and a deep, rich voice which I didn't expect to hear coming out of the very slight woman.
Besides the music festival, there were visits from several friends, including Alex and Adam, a dinner party, and a trip to the south of the island with a Zanzibari friend. Instead of describing all of this in great detail, I've posted pictures (which include photos from the music festival) in this album:
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| The First Half of February |
3 comments:
great photos..esp of the music fest (I am jealous) and of Alex, always photogenic. :-)
i CANNOT BELIEVE that you have so little time left there... SNIFF!!
Yes, you must be getting a bit choked up. No joke! It's hard to leave so many behind.
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