Rajab Suleiman & Kithara European Tour May 2019
04-02-2019
Qanun virtuoso Rajab Suleiman & Kithara will play concerts in Belgium and France in May 2019. The touring ensemble features vocalist Saada Nassor along with an ensemble of accordion, nai, bass and percussion. Major shows will take place at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Bruxelles (May 11) and Théâtre Lévi-Strauss at Musée du Quai Branly in Paris (May 19). The group will also perform at the Sauti za Busara Festival in Zanzibar on February 8.More details ››
Dogo Jackie R.I.P.
15-12-2018
Jagwa Music’s lead singer Dogo Jackie (Jackson Aluta Kazimoto) died in a tragic car accident in his home town Morogoro on December 8. Jackie was on his way to attend the funeral of an aunt, when the car he was traveling collided head-on with a truck. Jackie is survived by three children, Saidi, Nuru and Leonard. You will be missed Dogo Jackie, Mungu akulaze pema peponi!Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble at Festival de Fès des Musiques Sacrées du Monde on June 28, 2018
15-05-2018
Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble from Zanzibar has been invited to perform once again at the prestigious Festival des Musiques Sacrées du Monde, which takes place annually in the ancient city of Fès, Morocco. Mtendeni’s “Maulidi ya Homu” performance will be part of a special night devoted to Sufi performances from the African continent. Besides Mtendeni At the heart of Sufi Africa will feature performers from Egypt, Morocco and Senegal.More details ››
Ouch ! Records releases Zanzibara Vinyl
04-26-2018
Lionel Martin’s Ouch ! Records has released a double vinyl selection of tracks from our Zanzibara Series (Buda Musique). Titled Zanzibara Vol. 1 it features tracks from the first nine Zanzibara CD releases. Included are tracks by Tanzanian muziki wa dansi artists from the 1960s through to the 1980s (including Mbaraka Mwinshehe & Super Volcano, Mlimani Park Orchestra, Marijani Rajab & Dar International, Salum Abdallah & Cuban Marimba, Juwata Jazz & International Orchestra Safari Sound), as well as taarab recordings by Zuhura Swaleh, Matano Juma, Ikhwani Safaa and Bi Kidude. More information and complete track listing on Ouch’s Bandcamp space.More details ››
Rajab Suleiman & Kithara: WOMADelaide in March 2018
15-01-2018
Zanzibar’s leading taarab ensemble Rajab Suleiman & Kithara are set to perform in Australia for the first time. Lead by qanun virtuoso Rajab Suleiman, Kithara also features star singer Saada Nassor. Their performances will be at at WOMADelaide, March 10 and 12, 2018.More details ››
Jahazi Media Artists at Sauti za Busara Festival in February 2018
04-12-2017
Jahazi Media artists Segere Original, Mlimani Park Orchestra & Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble will perform at Sauti za Busara Festival in Zanzibar in February 2018. – Dar es Salaam’s Mlimani Park Orchestra, affectionately called “Sikinde“ by local fans are Tanzanias oldest still active muziki wa dansi band. Featuring the inimatable voice of Hassani Bitchuka the orchestra will perform on the festival’s opening night. Also from Dar es Salaam, Segere Original are the originators of a distinct fast-paced style extending the lineage of popular Zaramo ngoma like vanga and tokomile. Keeping up with the ever evolving Dar es Salaam music scene Segere have recently started to include Singeli, the latest Bongo youth music craze into their repertoire. Singeli was originally invented by DJs who speed up the break sections of modern taarab songs for some wild action on the dance floor. From there it evolved into a studio beat produced genre, yet Segere are the first to actually play this ridiculously fast genre with a live band. Young Singeli artist Elisha John is the latest addition to the Segere lineup. Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble are the revered and popular performers of “Maulidi ya Homu”, a Sufi ritual from Zanzibar. ”More details ››
Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble at Festival de Fès des Musiques Sacrées du Monde on June 28, 2018
15-05-2018
Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble from Zanzibar has been invited to perform once again at the prestigious Festival des Musiques Sacrées du Monde, which takes place annually in the ancient city of Fès, Morocco. Mtendeni’s “Maulidi ya Homu” performance will be part of a special night devoted to Sufi performances from the African continent. Besides Mtendeni At the heart of Sufi Africa will feature performers from Egypt, Morocco and Senegal.More details ››
Ouch ! Records releases Zanzibara Vinyl
04-26-2018
Lionel Martin’s Ouch ! Records has released a double vinyl selection of tracks from our Zanzibara Series (Buda Musique). Titled Zanzibara Vol. 1 it features tracks from the first nine Zanzibara CD releases. Included are tracks by Tanzanian muziki wa dansi artists from the 1960s through to the 1980s (including Mbaraka Mwinshehe & Super Volcano, Mlimani Park Orchestra, Marijani Rajab & Dar International, Salum Abdallah & Cuban Marimba, Juwata Jazz & International Orchestra Safari Sound), as well as taarab recordings by Zuhura Swaleh, Matano Juma, Ikhwani Safaa and Bi Kidude. More information and complete track listing on Ouch’s Bandcamp space.More details ››
Rajab Suleiman & Kithara: WOMADelaide in March 2018
15-01-2018
Zanzibar’s leading taarab ensemble Rajab Suleiman & Kithara are set to perform in Australia for the first time. Lead by qanun virtuoso Rajab Suleiman, Kithara also features star singer Saada Nassor. Their performances will be at at WOMADelaide, March 10 and 12, 2018.More details ››
Jahazi Media Artists at Sauti za Busara Festival in February 2018
04-12-2017
Jahazi Media artists Segere Original, Mlimani Park Orchestra & Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble will perform at Sauti za Busara Festival in Zanzibar in February 2018. – Dar es Salaam’s Mlimani Park Orchestra, affectionately called “Sikinde“ by local fans are Tanzanias oldest still active muziki wa dansi band. Featuring the inimatable voice of Hassani Bitchuka the orchestra will perform on the festival’s opening night. Also from Dar es Salaam, Segere Original are the originators of a distinct fast-paced style extending the lineage of popular Zaramo ngoma like vanga and tokomile. Keeping up with the ever evolving Dar es Salaam music scene Segere have recently started to include Singeli, the latest Bongo youth music craze into their repertoire. Singeli was originally invented by DJs who speed up the break sections of modern taarab songs for some wild action on the dance floor. From there it evolved into a studio beat produced genre, yet Segere are the first to actually play this ridiculously fast genre with a live band. Young Singeli artist Elisha John is the latest addition to the Segere lineup. Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble are the revered and popular performers of “Maulidi ya Homu”, a Sufi ritual from Zanzibar. ”More details ››
Rajab Suleiman & Kithara: Summer tour in Europe
08-07-2017
Qanun virtuoso Rajab Suleim and his group Kithara are touring in Europe this July, playing some major festivals like Afrika Festival Hertme (NL), San Sebastian Jazz Festival (ES), Womad in Charlton Park (UK) and Sfinks Mixed in Antwerp (BE).More details ››
Rajab Suleiman and singer Saada Nassor will also take part in the world premiere of Stefan Winter’s “Poem of Cell” a multi-media installation and live music event at Jazzaldia in San Sebastian on July 20. Here is a video of Rajab Suleiman playing a “taqsim qanun” (qanun solo) at Afrika Festival Hertme in 2017:
Jagwa Music: Center Stage US Tour
25-08-2016
“Speed, heat, and swagger. Tanzania's Jagwa Music bangs out a hard-won celebration as screaming hot as a jet engine.” The group will be touring in North America for the first time, notable events are: Millenium Center, Washington, DC (October 1), Le Poisson Rouge, New York (October 5), Joshua Tree Music Festival in California (October 8). Jagwa Music’s trip is part of a Center Stage touring programme featuring artists from Algeria, Pakistan and Tanzania in the 2016-17 season. More information on the tour can be found here.More details ››
Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble: Performance in Konya, Turkey
25-08-2016
Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble will perform at the 13th edition of the Konya International Mystic Music Festival in Turkey on September 27.More details ››
Rajab Suleiman & Kithara: Center Stage US Tour
25-08-2016
“A renewed taarab reinvigorates Zanzibar’s syncretic signature sound.” Rajab Suleiman & Kithara make their U.S. debut tour in 2016, as part of Center Stage, an exchange program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, produced by the New England Foundation for the Arts. More information on the tour here.More details ››
Ustadh Zein l’Abdin Ahmed Alamoody & Shakila Said: Mungu Awalaze Pema
21-08-2016
It is with sadness that we learn of the passing of ‘ud-master Zein l’Abdin and revered taarab songbird Shakila Said. Zein passed away in his home on Ndia Kuu in Mombasa’s Old Town on June 27. He was 77. Born in Lamu in 1939 Zein became one of the mainstays of the Mombasa taarab scene in the early 1960s. An accomplished ‘ud-player – actually without peers in the world of taarab-singer and composer he led the Zein Musical Party, which at times in the 1960s and 1970s included singers Zuhura, Malika and Maulidi Juma who would all become stars in their own right later on. Zein’s international recognition was set in motion with a recording for the pioneering GlobeStyle label in 1989. He toured in Europe in 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2004 and recorded a second album “The Swahili Song Book” in 1999. An obituary with details of Zein’s biography can be found here. Some of Zein’s earliest recordings also featuring Zuhurah Swaleh can be found on Zanzibara 2.Shakila Said (who passed away in Dar es Salaam on August 19) rose to fame with the Tanga-based Black Star and Lucky Star Musical Clubs in the late 1960s and early 1970s, major innovators in the history of taarab music. Shakila’s clear high-pitched voice graced many of the time’s biggest hits. She had a big comeback in the 1980s when she joined JKT Taarab in Dar es Salaam, at the time Tanzania’s biggest and most popular taarab orchestra. A sampling of Black and Lucky Star takes, featuring Shakila among other singers can be found on GlobeStyle’s “Nyota” (1989). In the sidebar is a link to one of Shakila’s best-known songs “Mapenzi Yamepungua”, performed with the Rajab Suleiman Trio at the Fès Sacred Music Festival.
Poetry in Motion: 100 Years of Zanzibar’s Ikhwan Safaa Musical Club
10-04-2016
Ikhwan Safaa Musical Club, Zanzibar’s oldest taarab orchestra and social club, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005, distinguishing it as one of the oldest orchestras in the world today. Nadi Ikhwan Safaa performs a genre of Swahili poetry sung to instrumental accompaniment known as taarab. Taarab traces its roots to musical and poetic traditions of Africa, Arabia, and South Asia, thus is a true expression of the ethos of Zanzibar’s and the East African coast’s Swahili culture. The film traces the evolution of the club through interviews, old video footage, portraits of some of the leading figures in the club’s history like the orchestra’s bandleader in the 1950s Abdalla Buaisha or the club’s first female singer Nihifadhi Abdallah. It also features footage from the club’s 2005 anniversary concert with singers Maulidi Mohamed “Machaprala”, Rukia Ramadhani and Mohamed Ilyas. The DVD will be released by Buda Musique in April 2016.Zanzibara Volume 9: Mbaraka Mwinshehe & Super Volcano - Masika
30-01-2016
Tanzania’s Mbaraka Mwinshehe rose to fame in the early 1970s to become the most popular dance music act in East Africa with frequent touring across Tanzania and neighboring countries, especially Kenya. Orchestre Super Volcano was formed in 1972 and this collection features the group’s initial recordings and their new dance style “Masika”. Available from Buda Musique.Rajab Suleiman & Grand Orchestre Taarab de Zanzibar:
At Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival
16-10-2015
Last month Rajab Suleiman & Grand Orchestre Taarab de Zanzibar performed at Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival. Here is a video of Makame Faki performing “Salaam Aleikum”, ‘a message of peace.’Jagwa Music: Summer Concerts in Scandinavia, Portugal and Spain
06-06-2014
Jagwa Music will play a string of Spanish festivals in mid-July courtesy of Casa Africa, dates include Pirineos Sur, La Mar de Musica, Etnosur and Mumes. Gigs in Portugal include Music Box in Lisbon, FMM and Milhoes Festival. Jagwa will also play at the Copenhagen and Arhus Jazz Festival (Denmark) and Urkult in the North of Sweden.More details ››
Kazimoto: Dar es Salaam Street Vibe meets International Electronica
01-06-2014
International critics have called Jagwa Music’s Dar street vibe variously as “hand-made techno” or “African nu-rave”. During one of the group’s stays in Berlin they had a chance meeting with German electronic artists Andi and Hannes Teichmann: the brothers attended a club show by Jagwa and the following day met for some jamming at the Gebrüder Teichmann’s studio. Now in February Andi and Hannes had their initiation into the real mchiriku attending some of the group’s street performances and rehearsing for a joint project that brings together Jagwa’s lead vocalist Jackie Kazimoto, Casio wizard Shukuru Ponza, percussion maestro TP, with the drum and bass duo of Tony Karama and Abdallah Ng’onda. After their initial performance in February at Zanzibar’s Sauti za Busara Festival—kind of drowned in torrential rains, yet still showing lots of promise—Kazimoto will take the heat to Lisboa Mistura Festival later this month and to TFF Rudolstadt in early July.More details ››
Jagwa Music to Perform at Rain Forest World Music Festival
05-05-2014
In June Jagwa Music will head to the Far East for the first time to perform at Rain Forest World Music Festival in Kuching, Sarawak. ››Mambo Moto Moto: Tanzania Country Focus at TFF Rudolstadt
24-04-2014
Jahazi Media’s Werner Graebner curates this year’s country special at TFF Rudolstadt. “Mambo Moto Moto”, hot stuff from Tanzania will feature Black Warriors, Kaya Baikoko, Kazimoto, Safi Theatre, Segere Original (all from Dar es Salaam), Kithara, Tarbiya Islamiyya (Zanzibar) and Ufunuo Muheme Group (from Dodoma).For more information ››
Jagwa Music to Play Beirut and Beyond Festival
11-11-2013
Just confirmed:Jagwa Music will play at Beirut and Beyond Festival in Lebanon on December 6.
For more information ››
Kithara CD Release and Autumn Tour
06-11-2013
“Rajab Suleiman and Kithara – Chungu” is the title of the latest release in the Zanzibara series (Colume 8) to be released by Buda Musique later this month. The group will be on a short European tour in November/December and play concerts in France and Netherlands.For dates see ››
Zanzibara Volume 7 : Sikinde vs Ndekule
17-06-2013
“Sikinde vs Ndekule—A Battle of Bands in Dar es Salaam 1984-1987" is the title of the upcoming Volume 7 in the Zanzibara Series (released by Buda Musique). A fierce exchange of songs and words ensued when some of Mlimani Park Orchestra’s (Sikinde) major musicians went to join the rival International Orchestra Safari Sound (Ndekule) in 1985. It was the golden age of Tanzania’s muziki wa dansi and the whole nation followed the latest news from these bands as these songs were first performed in the city’s dance hall circuit before being recorded for wider distribution by Radio Tanzania … read more ››Jagwa Music : Tour Dates Summer 2013
10-06-2013
Noise masters Jagwa Music will take their Dar es Salaam street vibe to summer festival stages throughout Europe in July. Major stops include Fundaçao Gulbenkian (Lisboa,PT), Fusion Festival (Lärz, DE), Copenhagen Jazz Festival (DK), Skankaloss (Gagnef, DE), Paleo Festival (Nyon, CH), Womad (Charlton Park, UK), Sfinks (Boechout, BE), Zomerparkfeest (Venlo, NL). More information touring ››Kithara : Autumn Tour
26-03-2013
Kithara – The Stars of Culture Musical Club will tour Europe in autumn. Already confirmed is a show at Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris on November 30, 2013. Young up-and-coming singer Saada Nassor just joined the group, and was also present when the group recorded songs for their upcoming first international CD release earlier this month. A short edit of Saada’s song “Chungu” is featured in the sidebar. touring ››Jagwa Music – From the Streets of Dar es Salaam …
A HARD-HITTING PARTY: JAGWA MUSIC IS COMPLETELY OUT OF CATEGORY
A wildly syncopated rhythm section in sickly exorbitant high-speed interaction with a cheap Casio-keyboard spitting harmonic Esperanto. And a lead singer with the charm of a young Michael Jackson flanked by two absolutely out of hand/unruly dancers, just as dirty/bawdy and funny as acrobatic. Rarely has Cosmopol driven the energy level that high and merry.
[Ralf Christensen, Information, July 4, 2011, p. 15]
