Taarab

This article is about the musical genre. For the studio album by Rabih Abou-Khalil, see Tarab.
Music of Tanzania
Genres
Media and performance
Music awards
Music festivals
Nationalistic and patriotic songs
National anthem
Regional music
Taarab
Cultural originsLate 19th century
Subgenres
Coastal taarab
Regional scenes
African Coastal Region
Local scenes
 Tanzania •  Zanzibar •  Kenya
Other topics
Taarab performance by Kithara Orchestra of Zanzibar performing in Paris

Taarab is a music genre popular in Tanzania and Kenya.[1][2] It is influenced by the musical traditions of the African Great Lakes, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian 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 Sultan Seyyid Barghash bin Said (1870-1888).[5] He enjoyed luxury and the pleasures of life. It was this ruler who initiated taarab in Zanzibar and later it spread all over the African Great Lakes region. The sultan imported a taarab ensemble from Egypt to play in his Beit el-Ajab palace. He subsequently decided to send Mohamed Ibrahim from Zanzibar to Egypt to learn music and to play the Kanun. Upon his return, he formed the Zanzibar Taarab Orchestra. In 1905, Zanzibar's second music society, Ikwhani Safaa Musical Club, was established, and it continues to thrive today.[6] Ikwhani Safaa and Culture Musical Club (founded in 1958) remain the leading Zanzibar taarab orchestras.[6]

  1. ^ Edmondson, Laura (2007). McNaughton, Patrick (ed.). Performance and Politics in Tanzania: The Nation on Stage. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-11705-2.
  2. ^ Njogu, Kimani; Maupeu, Herv (2007). "Music and Politics in Tanzania: a case study of Nyota-wa-Cigogo". Songs and Politics in Eastern Africa. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Mkuki na Nyota Publishers Ltd. pp. 241–246. ISBN 978-9987-08-108-0.
  3. ^ Mgana, Issa (1991). Jukwaa la Taarab - Zanzibar (in Swahili). Helsinki: Mediafrica Books. p. 101. ISBN 978-9529675005.
  4. ^ Askew, Kelly (2002). Performing the Nation: Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in Tanzania. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 27–67, 276. ISBN 978-0-226-02981-8.
  5. ^ Fargion, Janet T.; Le Guennec-Coppens, Françoise; Mery, Sophie (2002). "The Music of Zenj: Arab-African crossovers in the music of Zanzibar". Journal des Africanistes (in French). 72 (2). Paris: 203–212. doi:10.3406/jafr.2002.1315.
  6. ^ a b "Swahili Taarab - Music of the Indian Ocean". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2020-05-28.