This article is about the musical genre. For the studio album by Rabih Abou-Khalil, see Tarab.
Music of Tanzania
Genres
Bongo flava
Singeli
Taarab
Dansi
Kwaya
Ngoma
Media and performance
Music awards
Tanzania Music Awards (TMA)
Music festivals
Sauti za Busara
Asili Festival
Nationalistic and patriotic songs
National anthem
Mungu ibariki Afrika
Regional music
DR Congo
Kenya
Uganda
Rwanda
Burundi
Malawi
Mozambique
Zambia
v
t
e
Taarab
Cultural origins
Late 19th century
Subgenres
Coastal taarab
Regional scenes
African Coastal Region
Local scenes
Tanzania • Zanzibar • Kenya
Other topics
Bongo Flava
Singeli
Mdundiko
Kidumbaki
Unyago
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]
^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.
^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.
^Mgana, Issa (1991). Jukwaa la Taarab - Zanzibar (in Swahili). Helsinki: Mediafrica Books. p. 101. ISBN 978-9529675005.
^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.
^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.
^ ab"Swahili Taarab - Music of the Indian Ocean". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
Taarab is a music genre popular in Tanzania and Kenya. It is influenced by the musical traditions of the African Great Lakes, North Africa, the Middle...
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binti Saad (c.1880– August 1950) was a pioneering Tanzanian musician in the taarab musical style. Through her music she was also an anti-colonial activist...
Africa and France, and now has a strong Malagasy influence. Zanzibar's taarab music, however, remains the most influential genre on the islands, and a...
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polka and mazurka, French folk and pop, sega from Mauritius and Réunion, taarab, zouk, soukous moutya and other pan-African genres, as well as Polynesian...
derivative of American hip hop and traditional Tanzanian styles such as taarab and dansi, with additional influences from reggae, R&B, and afrobeats, to...
Africans for his work in promoting Africa worldwide Bi Kidude, Taarab singer of Taarab and Unyago music, received WOMEX award in 2005 Faruk Malik, Ugandan...
genres in Tanzania, as defined by BASATA are, ngoma, dansi, kwaya, and taarab, with bongo flava being added in 2001. Singeli has since the mid-2000s been...
Taarab, another type of music style adapted by the coast and mainly performed by women. A very popular coastal tradition, with Arabic poetry, taarab has...
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were permitted to be recorded or broadcast, which at the time was ngoma, taarab, kwaya and dansi. The Broadcasting Services Act of 1993 allows private broadcast...
among the Luo, Nzele among the Mijikenda, Mugithi among the Kikuyu, and Taarab among the Swahili. Additionally, Kenya has a growing Christian gospel music...
electro Soukous (aka Congo, Lingala or African rumba) Street pop Sungura Taarab Tsapiky Wassoulou music Zimbabwean jazz Zouglou Zouk African traditional...
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Music of Tanzania Genres Bongo flava Singeli Taarab Dansi Kwaya Ngoma Media and performance Nationalistic and patriotic songs Regional music DR Congo Kenya...
polka and mazurka; French folk and pop; sega from Mauritius and Réunion; taarab, soukous and other pan-African genres; and Polynesian, Indian and Arcadian...
and has over the years provided a stage for local Swahili talent, from Taarab legends like Bi Kidude and Culture Musical Club, to homegrown Tanzanian...
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Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe (b. 1931) 2013 – Bi Kidude, Tanzanian Taarab singer (b. ≈1910) 2013 – Yngve Moe, Norwegian bass player and songwriter...
emphasis is being placed on teaching traditional music styles, such as Taarab, Kidumbaki or Ngoma. "In recent years the Music Academy of the Tanzanian...
faces family hardships with his single mother, who is a talented singer of taarab. Being a child born out of wedlock does not make life easier for him, as...
afrobeat, highlife, Congolese rumba, soukous, ndombolo, makossa, kizomba, Taarab, and others. African music also uses a large variety of instruments from...
as a kitchen apron. The most typical musical genre of Swahili culture is taarab (or tarabu), sung in the Swahili language. Its melodies and orchestration...
Mwanaisha Abdalla, born c. 1981) is a musician from Kenya who performs taarab-influenced pop music. Ndogo is from the coastal city of Mombasa. She was...
folk music based on the variety over 50 regional languages. Zanzibaran taarab music has also become popular, as has hip hop, reggae music, soul, soukous...
Global Information
Tanzania • 
Zanzibar • 
Kenya