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| Music of Tanzania | ||||
| Genres | ||||
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| Media and performance | ||||
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| Nationalistic and patriotic songs | ||||
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| Regional music | ||||
| Taarab | |
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| Cultural origins | Late 19th century |
| Subgenres | |
| Coastal taarab | |
| Regional scenes | |
| African Coastal Region | |
| Local scenes | |
 Tanzania • Zanzibar • Kenya | |
| Other topics | |
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Taarab is amusic genre popular in bothTanzania andKenya.[1][2] It has been influenced by the musical traditions of theAfrican Great Lakes,North Africa, theMiddle East, and theIndian subcontinent. Taarab rose to prominence in 1928 with the advent of the genre's first star,Siti binti Saad.[3][4]
According to local legend, taarab was popularized by SultanSeyyid Barghash bin Said (1870-1888).[5] He enjoyed luxury and the pleasures of life. It was this ruler who initiated taarab inZanzibar; and later it spread all over the African Great Lakes region. The sultan imported atarab ensemble fromEgypt to play in his Beit el-Ajab palace. He subsequently decided to sendMohamed Ibrahim from Zanzibar to Egypt to learn music and to play thekanun, a string instrument similar to thezither. Upon his return, he formed the Zanzibar Taarab Orchestra. In 1905, Zanzibar's second music society,Ikwhani Safaa Musical Club, was established, which continues to thrive in the 21st century. Ikwhani Safaa andCulture Musical Club, were founded in 1958, have been the leading Zanzibar taarab orchestras.[6]
The wordtaarab is aloanword from Arabic. The Arabic wordطرب means "having pleasure, delight with music".[7][8]
After the spreading of taarab from the Sultan's palace to Zanzibari weddings and other community events, the first famous female singer oftaarab wasSiti bint Saad.[3][7] In 1928, she and her band became the first from the region to make commercial recordings as the first East African to be recorded in the Bombay HMV studios. She would go on to become one of the most famous taarab musicians of all time.[7]
Over the next several decades, bands and musicians likeBi Kidude, Mzee Yusuph, Culture Musical Club andAl-Watan Musical Club kepttaarab at the forefront of the Tanzanian scene, and made inroads across the world. Playing in a similar style, smallerKidumbak ensembles grew popular, at least among the poor of Zanzibar, featuring two small drums, bass, violins and dancers usingclaves andmaracas. The 1960s saw a group called theBlack Star Musical Club fromTanga modernize the genre, bringing it to audiences farther afield, especiallyBurundi andKenya. More recently, modern taarab bands likeEast African Melody have emerged, as have related backbiting songs for women, calledmipasho.[9]
Taarab music is a fusion of Swahili poetry sung in rhythmic poetic style, performed by male or female singers and taarab ensembles comprising numerous musicians. Taarab forms a part of the social life of the Swahili people along the coastal areas, especially in Zanzibar, Tanga and even further inMombasa andMalindi along the Kenya coast.[4] Wherever the Swahili-speaking people travelled, Taraab moved with them. It has penetrated as far inland asUganda,Rwanda andBurundi in East Africa, where taarab groups compete in popularity with other kinds of popular musical groups.[2]
Nowadays a taarab revolution is taking place and much debate continues about the music which has been changed by the East AfricanMelody phenomenon. Melody, as they are known by their mostly female fans, play modern taarab, which is 'taarab to dance to' and features direct lyrics, bypassing the lyrical subtlety of the older songs, where the meaning of the lyrics is only alluded to, and never directly inferred.[2] Today, taarab songs may be explicit – sometimes even graphic – in sexual connotation, and much of the music of groups likeMelody andMuungano is composed and played on keyboards, increasing portability for different venues. Also, the groups are much smaller in number than traditional taarab orchestras and therefore more readily available to tour and play shows throughout the region and beyond.[1]
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