Will Ross reports from Zanzibar and Mombasa on how traditional Taarab music is responding to the challenge of new influences. In the 1930's the great Taarab singer, Siti Bint Saad, was a prized ...

Mariam Hamdani tunes her ganoun gently, the sunlight catching her turquoise ring as she takes time to calibrate each string with the help of an iPhone app. Her henna-highlighted hair peeks out from ...

A month or two after most music critics compile their favorite albums of 2014, I’m finally getting around to making my list. Few international titles brought me more pleasure than Chungu, a dazzling ...

If hot and sweaty nights of endless dancing are your thing, then Tanzania might just be your ideal holiday destination. Its live music scene is dominated by two distinct genres. One is called muziki ...

Of all the exotic bands to land in Chicago during the ongoing World Music Festival, one stands apart from the rest. But it’s not just geographical distance that distinguished the appearance of the ...

Zanzibar music lovers everywhere are mourning the loss of legendary musician Makame Faki Makame, who died on January 18, 2020, at the age of 77, at Global hospital in Stone Town, Zanzibar, following a ...

Not so long ago, Christopher John's days were spent herding his family's goats and cows in a rural part of Zanzibar, the tropical island off the coast of Tanzania. But he always loved music and used ...