Taarab

Taarab uses a mixed Arab-Indian-African instrumentation — oud, violins, qanun, accordion, occasional brass, with a percussion section running tabla, riq frame drum and other hand drums. Tempos are moderate to slow, harmonic colour heavily influenced by Arab maqam practice, and overall mood romantic and contemplative. Vocals carry Swahili-language poetry (mashairi) of considerable literary complexity, often with women's voices leading. The Zanzibari recording-studio aesthetic prizes ensemble precision over individual virtuoso display.

Taarab took shape in late nineteenth-century Zanzibar at the meeting point of Arab, Indian, Persian and African trade and settlement, codified under the patronage of Sultan Sayyid Bargash. Siti binti Saad's recordings in the 1920s — including Wewe Paka — were the first East African records ever issued and made her the genre's first international star. After the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution, the genre's centre of gravity shifted to Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. The Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar carries the modern Zanzibari tradition.

On Siti binti Saad's Wewe Paka (1928), historical fidelity is rough but the rhythmic and melodic ideas are intact. On Culture Musical Club's later work the ensemble precision is the obvious feature — twelve to fifteen musicians moving as a single organism. Swahili poetry rewards translation.

Wewe Paka first, for the historical signature. Then Culture Musical Club's Kalibu (2000) for the contemporary practice.

Siti binti Saad recorded over a hundred sides in the late 1920s and early 1930s and became the most famous singer on the Swahili coast in her lifetime. Wewe Paka — the title means literally You Cat — entered Swahili-language popular memory as shorthand for her recorded oeuvre.