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 ...

Taarab music has come of age. Gone are the days when lovers of the soulful melodies merely sat back and listened as their favourite songs were played. Today, Taarab fans are packing entertainment ...

August 7, 2020, was historic in the Taarab music circles. It marked the return of arguably one of its greatest sons, the self-styled King of Taarab - Mzee Yusuf, after a five-year hiatus. When he took ...

Mombasa, Kenya: The king of Taarab music, Mohamed Khamis Juma Balo, is dead. He died in his house in Mombasa’s Old Town on Saturday night after ailing for long. Bhalo who practised Taarab for over ...

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 ...

Teenager Neema Florence Surrie started to play the violin at the age of nine. Since then, she has found a love for traditional taarab music and plays in an all-female taarab music group in Zanzibar.

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 ...

Maryam Mohammed Hamdani says she is the first woman to play taarab, a traditional style of music native to East Africa, in public in Zanzibar. She says she wasn't able to learn as a child due to ...

Tanzania's and East Africa's popular taarab music songbird, Shakila Saidi, is dead. She died at her residence in Dar es Salaam on Friday when she collapsed shortly after performing 'magharibi' (sunset ...

"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 ...

Teenager Neema Florence Surrie started to play the violin at the age of nine. Since then, she has found a love for traditional taarab music and plays in an all-female taarab music group in Zanzibar.