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 ...

The great granddaughter of famed taarab singer Siti Binti Saad pays homage to a powerful female legacy in her own elastic, emotional style The Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar has historically ...

A famous Zanzibari singer and composer, Siti binti Saad established taarab as a performing art and as a mouthpiece for women in East Africa. In the process, she became a pioneer in many ways. Siti ...

When a genre of music that has changed very little of its original format over a period of almost a century begins to embrace contemporary influences, then its traditional fanbase is often stunned by ...

In Zanzibar, taarab music is finding new patrons, scholars and audiences. I would sit beside him listening to the music, drumming on tables and anything else I could find Musician Mohammed Issa Matona ...

"First published 2014 by Ashgate Publishing"--Title page verso. AFA copy Purchased from the Warren M. Robbins Library Endowment. "The musical genre of taarab is played for entertainment at weddings ...

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 ...

When Zanzibar-born Taarab icon Fatuma binti Baraka alias Bi Kidude passed on at a golden age of 102 in April 2013, all eyes were on the genre’s rising stars, emblems of the music’s future. Among them ...

Along the East African coastal strip, few musical styles can rival the popularity enjoyed by taarab melodies, a genre believed to date back to late 19th century. Among the Swahili communities, live ...

Renowned taarab singer and composer Ally Hemed, aka Ally Star, died on February 3, 2026 He passed away at Muhimbili National Hospital after being hospitalised for about five weeks Celebrated Taarab ...