Text by Banning Eyre. Photographs by Banning Eyre and Sean Barlow.

Afropop's Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre spent much of February 2004 in South Africa and Tanzania. In coming months, there will be a series of radio programs, website features, interviews, audio slideshows, and exclusive music offerings in the Afropop Music Shop. To start, we look at the Sauti Za Busara Swahili Festival held in Zanzibar, Tanzania, on February 13-15, 2004. Here's the first of our festival reports. And check out Sauti Za Busara, 2004: Day 2
and also Sauti Za Busara, 2004: Day 3

Zanzibar, a pair of islands just off the Indian Ocean coast of Tanzania, is best known for slave-trading sultans, exotic spices, beautiful tropical beaches and high living. It became part of Tanzania officially only in 1964, but the marriage has remained uneasy, and political tensions there made it a risky destination for all but the most adventurous travelers until quite recently. These days, Zanzibar is coming into its own, hosting an annual international film festival (ZIFF), another festival devoted to the cultures of the Dhow countries--so called because of their affinity with the elegant, single-sail boats that grace these waters--and now, a brand new music festival dedicated to presenting the performance arts of Swahili-speaking Africa. Sauti Za Busara--Swahili for "sounds of wisdom"--launched this year with three afternoons and nights of diverse music in one of the most enchanting settings imaginable for a festival, the Forodhani Gardens of the Zanzibari capital, Stonetown. Afropop Worlwide has developed a taste for music festivals held in Africa. They provide atmosphere unmatched by any European or North American festival, and also access to musicians and groups that will likely never make it to the international tour circuit. Our experience at the 2003 Festival in the Desert in Essakane, Mali, delivered all that and much more. This year, we forwent the unique pleasures of musical nights in the Sahara for what might be glibly called The Festival at the Beach. This is the first of our reports on what we saw and heard at the inaugural Sauti Za Busara festival.

To begin with, you don't have to ride on camels or spend long days in dusty four-wheel-drive trucks barreling across sand and savannah to reach Stonetown. A 20-minute hop in a ten-seater airplane from Dar Es Salaam, or a 1 ½ hour ride on a comfortably air-conditioned power boat, and you're there. You check into a cozy hotel, such as the elegant, seaside Tembo where we stayed, and it's an easy walk to the beach, the festival site, or gorgeous, narrow streets lined with stone buildings and filled with friendly people, rich history, and fabulous, affordable restaurants.

Cheapest and most atmospheric of all is the Forodhani Gardens site, right at the water's edge. Every night, food vendors set up their sugar cane presses, charcoal pits, and grills to prepare an amazing array of foods--marinated fish kebabs, savory Zanzibar pizzas, and fresh grilled squid, prawns and octopus, all served with delicious tamarind sauce and other garnishes, on fried bread, rice or potatoes--as the Rough Guide to Tanzania puts it, five-star hotel fare at fast food prices. Festival visitors might have had the impression that this fabulous gastronomic spread was part of the event, but on the nights before and after Sauti Za Busara, the gourmet extravaganza went on in force. This is a favorite eating spot for locals, and for obvious reasons.

One thing you did not find on the festival site was alcohol. There were bars at close proximity, so no one was deprived. Mali's Festival in the Desert did have an on-site bar--We hear that this year, there were three--but of course, the nearest real bar or hotel there was 100 km away! In fact, the air of sobriety at Sauti Za Busara--just one reflection of Zanzibar's proud Islamic identity--was refreshing, part of the easy, friendly vibe that pervades Stonetown in general.

Everything in Zanzibar speaks of a complex history. Long a stronghold of Omani Arab traders in East Africa, the island now has the highest percentage of Muslims of any part of Tanzania: 90%. The British took over in 1890, but the basic character of Stonetown was well established by then. Zanzibar's African elements are also complex, of necessity as Tanzania has anywhere between 70 and 120 ethnic groups, none of them accounting for more than a few percent of the overall population. This, of course, is the main reason for the preponderance of Swahili, a relatively young, hybrid language that unites diverse peoples in much of East and Central Africa.

Zanzibar is the likely birthplace, and certainly a spiritual home for one of the most unique and beguiling musical styles found in East Africa, taarab. This Afro-Arabic genre takes its name from the Arabic word for musical ecstasy, but with its added Swahili, other African and even Indian elements, East African taarab is very different from what would today be called tarab music in Syria, Iraq, or Egypt. Zanzibar's taarab orchestras and groups are thought to have closer ties with Arab music than those found on the Kenyan and Tanzanian coast. This goes back to the early 20th century, when the Swahili taarab singer Siti Bint Saad used her training in the Cairo school of music to emerge as East Africa's seminal diva. From there, a complex history unfolded leading to today's "modern taarab" in which synthesizers, drum machines, and Congolese beats alloy with recognizably Arab singing, albeit in Swahili. Look for an Afropop program and an extended feature on East African taarab in the months to come.

Back to the festival, Sauti Za Busara's pan-Swahili identity will allow it to move in a variety of directions as it matures. For the first year, the vast majority of the 37 acts who performed were from Tanzania, and most of those from Zanzibar. There were three Kenyan groups, including the young pop singer Eric Wainaina and a contingent from Mombassa's most revered taarab ensemble, Maulidi Juma & Mombassa Musical Party. There were also a few outliers, some Finnish musicians who came to participate in musical encounters with Swahili musicians, also a fast-rising new act from Harare, Zimbabwe, Willom Tight & Tight Family, and finally, without a doubt the biggest Afropop name on the bill, the legendary band Ghorwane from Mozambique.

The festival's blend of local hip-hop, taarab, and traditional ngoma (drumming and singing), made a rich musical diet all on its own. The program was put together by a small, passionate outfit called Busara Productions, with major support from the Ford Foundation. At the helm was D.J Yusuf Mahmoud, who came here from his native England six years ago, and never left. Other key players at Busara include its gracious chairman Ismail Moh'd Said, and Program Assistant, Kwame Mchauru, who juggled countless tasks, including stage management, MC-ing most of the groups, and even translating for a number of Afropop's impromptu backstage interviews. The people at Busara dreamed big, worked hard, risked much, and pulled off a very impressive first year festival that uplifted local talent, sent a message to the outside world, and gave Stonetown itself an experience of self-celebration that by the end seemed to genuinely touch and surprise everyone involved.

Sauti Za Busara, 2004: Day 1

The festival kicked off with fanfare on a sunny Friday afternoon as the venerable Police Band (Beni Ya Polisi) marched through the site, horns blaring, and a small boy pounding out syncopated rhythms on a big, bass drum. Members of Tanzania's Basengo Arts, Zanzibar's 5 Stars Acrobats and the well-loved, local Halikuniki Comedy Group added panache and color to the procession with costumes, dancing and antics that drew the festival's first audience, including a number of boys who climbed high in the limbs one of the site's umbrella-like trees to watch the proceedings. At first, the people of Stonetown did not seem to know what to expect. Despite Busara's publicity efforts, the concept of a free, public music festival was so new to them that it took time for word to spread. As the festival progressed, more and more locals showed up at Forodhani Gardens, including groups of girls in matching veils--likely school uniforms--boys on bicycles, and entire families. The area in front of the stage was often filled with kids and teens, seated on the ground, occasionally rising to dance, all keenly focused on the events on stage.

The afternoon sets that first day showcased the yin and yang of musical life in Zanzibar. First, a group of students from the Dhow Countries Music Academy delivered a brief instrumental taarab performance. Then, young Zanzibar rappers--Eddy S a.k.a. Magongo, Jam Brothers, and an all-girl act, Cool T--passed around cordless microphones, pranced the stage, and barked out Swahili raps over programmed backing tracks. Rap is huge throughout the Swahili world. Of course, it's huge with youth everywhere these days, but it has a particular resonance here because Swahili speakers have a special affection for poetry, word play, and the artful use of language. Zanzibar is renowned for the most elegant Swahili speakers to be found anywhere, and this skill nourishes the island's taarab and rap acts alike.

Next up was a beautiful, chamber-music-like, taarab set from Baladna Taarab, a group comprised of the teachers from the Dhow Countries Music Academy. Most of the set was instrumental, featuring lyrical, rhythmic intermingling of oud, qanun (Arab zither), accordion, violin, percussion and ney (flute). There was one gorgeous, lilting vocal piece from the older taarab repertoire. The song's romantic refrain lingered in the air as the group parted the stage in the crisp, late afternoon light, as redolent smoke from the water-side chef's grills wafted over the gathering crowd.

Black Roots Culture Group then performed a combination of ngoma--African drumming, dance and singing--and local theatre. Just before the proceedings broke for the evening Muslim prayer break, Kashakali Group gave a taste of what they call "Zenji Flavour," a blend of traditional song and dance with modern hip-hop-tinged elements.

When the show resumed after dark, a group unaccustomed to public performances took the stage to share something more in the realm of ritual, and the handful of foreigners present were in for a revelation. Maulidi Ya Homu Ya Mtendeni perform a visually arresting style of Sufi religious devotion that has roots in the ancient Arab world, but today survives only in Zanzibar. An old man sat at stage left burned large quantities of incense to create a peaceful mood as some 20 young men in white, brimless caps and flowing robes formed two rows, one standing in back and the other kneeling in front. One hand drummer kept a rolling, slow, hypnotic beat. One singer sang a languorous, liquid lead to which the chorus chanted in response.

As the mood built, the men began to sway and undulate. Those kneeling performed snaking, synchronized arm and hand gestures and rocked back and forth, sometimes rising and leaning left and right, forward to the floor, and then all the way backward like waves breaking in graceful, ever changing patterns. This went on for some forty minutes and created an exuberant, spiritually charged mood that colored the rest of the night. Nothing in the festival's first night topped this group for sheer surprise and beauty. It is rare that a religiously inspired display can convey such depth of feeling to outsiders. This group could do more than any politician or spokesman to communicate to Westerners the sweetness and elegance inherent in Islam.

Keeping with first night's mostly Zanzibar focus, Kilua Dancing Group then took the stage with an cracking, rhythmic display that made a stark contrast with the Sufi's oceanic performance. Painted white faces, aurora-like feather headdresses and colorful bead work deliberately obscured the sex of some of the dancers, a trait that may go back to ngoma's central African roots. The group brought the feeling of a forest people's wedding or initiation ceremony to the stage. Where men in white had swayed for Allah--the universal god--now, a gender-bending kaleidoscope of dancers and drummers and singers communed with ancient spirits whose cults extend back much further. Such are the complexities of cultural life in Swahili Africa.

Oya Theatre Group was next, the first mainland Tanzanian group to take the stage. The name signifies Opportunity for Young Artists, and this group's multi-ethnic blend of drums, xylophones, even steel pans, and of course, singing and dancing reflects their dedication to promoting excellent young traditional musicians. This is a state-supported ensemble, and one that has done well enough in competitions to tour countries throughout the region. Tonight's performance included a theatrical aspect that proved somewhat mystifying to outsiders but earned the rapt attention of the local crowd.

It was creeping toward midnight when the first night's closing act, Eric Wainaina of Kenya, brought his polished Afropop group to the stage. Wainaina spent some years studying music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston before returning to Kenya to launch his career a couple of years back. His song "Kitu Kidogo" ("A Little Something") was a brave attack on corruption and bribery with a Congo-flavored pop hook that caught on throughout East Africa. Wainaina draws from R&B crooners--he grew up loving Abba, The Jacksons and Take 6--as much as contemporary African sounds. His band is tight and hard-hitting, featuring strong guitar leads, prominent keyboards, tight arranging, and lots of rhythmic variety. Wainaina has a smooth, powerful tenor voice and he delivered the most technically polished performance of the night.

Strangely, the local crowd dwindled substantially during his set, and those who remained were slow to answer Wainaina's call to dance as the band kicked into high-spirited seben boogie jams. Any veiled local girls tempted to respond were discouraged by watchful men, and the dancers Wainaina did manage to get on stage were, as he put it, "apparently not from here." Wainaina's troubles began earlier in the day when representatives from the local censorship board showed up at his sound check. One might have thought they had come to ask about his lyrics; Wainaina is known for his outspokenness on political matters. They did ask about that, but their focus was more on the sort of dancing the group would be doing, and also the attire of the group's two female backup singers. Exposed midriffs were vetoed, and the girls had to go shopping for new blouses before the show. It is interesting that even highly suggestive forms of dance tied to particular Tanzanian ethnic traditions are acceptable, but when dance becomes a generalized, pop music phenomenon, the rules seem to change. In another reflection of the premium Zanzibaris place on language, Wainaina told Afropop that he was slightly self-conscious about his Swahili on stage. "Even as a Kenyan, I don't speak the best Swahili," he said. "And so to come to a place where the purest form is spoken, I kind of felt hampered. But I tried to convey as much good feeling as I could and to tell them what the songs were about." Wainaina handled a tough crowd like a real pro. It was his first gig in Zanzibar, and part of his ongoing education as a young, rising star in a fast changing region of Africa.


More to come on the first Sauti Za Busara Swahili Festival in Stonetown, Zanzibar. Meanwhile, some images from the Afropop team's vast collection of festival photographs…