Zanzibar: Taarab and Ngoma Performances

Taarab discography and bibliography

Discography

Collections

Kidumbak Kalcha: N’gambo — The Other Side of Zanzibar, Dizim Records, DE, 1997. Songs the Swahili Sing, Original Music, US, 1994. Taarab 3: The Music of Zanzibar, GlobeStyle, UK, 1990. Zanzibar: music of celebration, Topic Records/British Library National Sound Archive, UK, 2000.

Single authors and groups

Bi Kidude, 1998, Zanzibar, Retroafric, UK. Culture Musical Club, 1989, Taarab 4: The Music of Zanzibar, GlobeStyle, UK. Culture Musical Club, 1996, Spices of Zanzibar, DE. Culture Musical Club, 2000, Bashraf: Taarab instrumentals from Zanzibar, Dizim Records, DE. Ikhwani Safaa Musical Club, 1988, Taarab 2: The Music of Zanzibar, GlobeStyle, UK. Saleh, S.S., Ahmed, A.M., 1989, Taarab 1: The Music of Zanzibar, GlobeStyle, UK. Zuhura & Party, 1991, Jino la Pembe, GlobeStyle, UK.

Bibliography and further readings

Published primary sources

Askew, K.M., 2000, “Following in the Tracks of Beni: The Diffusion of the Tanga Taarab Tradition”, in: Gunderson, F., Bartz, G. Mashindano! Competitive Music Performance in East Africa, Mkuki na Nyota, Dar es Salaam, pp. 21-39. Askew, K.M., 2002, Performing the Nation: Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in Tanzania, The University Chicago Press, Chicago. Broughton, S., Ellingham, M., Trillo, R. (a cura di), 1999, World Music Vol.1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Rough Guides Ltd, London. Fair, L., 2001, Pastimes & Politics — Culture, Community and Identity in Post-abolition Urban Zanzibar, 1890-1945, Ohio University Press, Athens (Ohio). Farsi, M. S. A., 1956, Ada za harusi katika Unguja, East African Literature Bureau, Dar es Salaam. Graebner, W., 1991, “Tarabu — Populäre Musik am Indischen Ozean”, in: Populäre Musik in Afrika, Berlin: Museum für Völkerkunde, pp.181-200. Graebner, W., 1994, “Swahili musical party: Islamic taarab music of East Africa”, in: Broughton, S., Ellingham, M., Trillo, R. (a cura di), World Music: The Rough Guide, Rough Guides Ltd, London, pp. 349-55. Graebner, W., 1999, “Tanzania/Kenya - Taarab: the swahili coastal sound”, in: Broughton, S., Ellingham, M., Trillo, R. (a cura di), World Music Vol.1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Rough Guides Ltd, London, pp. 690-697. Gunderson, F., Bartz, G. (a cura di), 2000, Mashindano! Competitive Music Performance in East Africa. Mkuki na Nyota, Dar es Salaam. Jahadhmy, A. A. (a cura di), 1966, Waimbaji wa juzi, Chuo cha Uchunguzi wa Lugha ya Kiswahili, Dar es Salaam. Khatib, M. S., 1987, “Tarabu ni Fasihi Simulizi?”, in: AA.VV., Makala ya Semina za Fasihi Simulizi, Institute of Swahili Research, Dar es Salaam. Khatib, M. S., 1992, Taarab Zanzibar, Tanzania Publishing House, Dar es Salaam. Lange, S., 2000, “Muungano and TOT: Rivals on the Urban Cultural Scene”, in: Gunderson, F., Bartz, G. (a cura di), Mashindano! Competitive Music Performance in East Africa. Mkuki na Nyota, Dar es Salaam, pp. 67-86. Mdungi, A., 2001, Malenga ya Uswahilini, TAKILUKI, Zanzibar Mgana, I., 1991, Jukwaa la Taarab — Zanzibar. Mediafrica, Helsinki. Mlacha, S. A. K., 1996, “Women’s Images in Kiswahili Poetry and Taarab Songs”, in: Gender Relations and Women’s Images in the Media, D. A. S. Mbilinyi & C.K. Omari (a cura di), Dar es Salaam University Press, Dar es Salaam, pp. 207-223. Mwamzandi, I. Y., 2001, “Performance, Carnival and the Deconstruction of Social Meaning: The case of Taarab among the Swahili”, in: Mdee, J. S., Mwansoko H. J. M. (a cura di), Makala ya kongamano la kimataifa Kiswahili 2000, Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili, Dar es Salaam, pp. 44-61. Ntarangwi, M., 2000, “Confrontation, and (De)Construction of Masculinity in the Taarab of Maulidi and Bhalo”, in: Gunderson, F., Bartz, G. (a cura di), Mashindano! Competitive Music Performance in East Africa. Mkuki na Nyota, Dar es Salaam, pp. 55-66. Ntarangwi, M., 2003, Gender, Identity, and Performance. Understandig Swahili Cultural Realities through Song. Africa World Press, Trenton, NJ. Ranger, T. O., 1975, Dance and Society in Eastern Africa 1890-1970 — the Beni Ngoma, Heinemann, London. Sengo, T. S. Y. (a cura di), 1994, Kimbunga, DUP, Dar es Salaam. Shaaban, R., 1967, Wasifu wa Siti binti Saad. Nelson, Dar es Salaam. Topan, F., 1994, “Song, Dance and the continuity of Swahili Identity”, in: Parkin, D. (a cura di), Continuity and Autonomy in Swahili Communities — Inland Influences and Strategies of Self-Determination, Afro-Pub, Wien, pp. 139-151. Topp, J., 1994 “A History of Taarab Music in Zanzibar: a Process of Africanisation”, in: Parkin, D. (a cura di), Continuity and Autonomy in Swahili Communities — Inland Influences and Strategies of Self-Determination, Afro-Pub, Wien, pp. 153-165. Topp Fargion, J., 1998, “La musique et la danse: le taarab”, in: Le Cour Grandmaison, C., Crozon, A. (a cura di), Zanzibar aujourd’hui. Editions Karthala, Paris, pp. 275-287. Topp Fargion, J., 1998, “Portrait of a taarab artist: The “mother of taarab Siti binti Saad (1880-1950)”, in: Le Cour Grandmaison, C., Crozon, A. (a cura di), Zanzibar aujourd’hui. Editions Karthala, Paris, pp. 166-70. Topp Fargion, J., 2000, “Hot Kabisa! The Mpasho Phenomenon and Taarab in Zanzibar”, in: Gunderson, F., Bartz, G. (a cura di), Mashindano! Competitive Music Performance in East Africa. Mkuki na Nyota, Dar es Salaam, pp. 39-54.

Published essays (magazines and websites)

Aiello, F., 2001, “Taarab and Swahili Prose”, Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 68, pp. 123-128. Aiello Traore, F., 2003, “Taarab aujourd’hui: la chanson moderne à Zanzibar”, Etudes Littéraires Africaines (ELA) [Dossier littéraire: Littérature swahilie], 16, pp. 29-32. Aiello Traore, F., 2004, “Continuity and Change in Zanzibari Taarab Performance and Poetry”, Swahili Forum XI, pp.1-7, http://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/SwaFo/. Arnold, N., 2002, “Placing the Shameless: Approaching Poetry and the Politics of Pemban-nes in Zanzibar, 1995-2001”, Research in African Literatures, 33,3, pp. 140-166. Fair, L., 1998, “Music, Memory and Meaning: Siti binti Saad”, Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 55, pp. 1-16. Frankl, P. J. L., Omar Y. A., Topp Fargion, J., 1998, “Kasha Langu: a Popular song from Mombasa”, Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 55, pp. 17-25. Graebner, W., 2001, “Twarab ya Shingazidja: A first approach”, Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 68, pp.129-143. Graebner, W., n.d., “An Ocean of Sound: Taarab and the Musical Imaginary of the Western Indian Ocean”, http://www.international.ucla.edu/jscasc/programs/IOWPapers/Graebner.doc Khamis, S.A.M., 2001, “Redifining Taarab in Relation to Local and Global Influences”, Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 68, pp.145-155. Khamis, S.A.M., 2002, “Wondering about Change: The Taarab Lyric and Global Openness”, Nordic Journal of African Studies, 11, 2, pp. 198-205. King’ei, K., 1996/97, “Nafasi ya Nyimbo za Kiswahili za Taarab katika Jamii ya Kisasa”, Kioo cha Lugha, 2, pp. 101-110. Knappert, J., 1967, “Swahili Songs”, Afrika und Uebersee, 50, pp. 163-172. Knappert, J., 1977, “Swahili Taarabu Songs”, Afrika und Uebersee, 60, pp. 116-155. Mlama, P. O., 1981, “Jinsi sanaa za maonyesho, taarab na senema zinavyoweza kuimarisha lugha ya Kiswahili”, Lugha Yetu, 38, pp.38-45. Ntarangwi, M., 2001, “A Socio-Historical and Contextual Analysis of Popular Musical Performance among the Swahili of Mombasa, Kenya”, Cultural Analysis, vol. 2, http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/caforum/volume2/ vol2_article1.html Saleh, S. S., 1988, “Nyimbo za Taarab Unguja”, Lugha Yetu, 37,1980, pp. 35-48. Saleh, S. S., “Historia na Muundo wa Taarab”, Lugha na Utamaduni, 1, pp. 9-11 . Samsom, R., 1996, “Tungo za Mzee Kimbunga: Haji Gora Haji”, Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 47, pp. 9-18. Suleiman, A. A., 1969, “The Swahili Singing Star Siti binti Saad and the Tarab Tradition in Zanzibar”, Swahili 39, pp. 87-90. Topp Fargion, J., 1993, “The Role of Women in Taarab in Zanzibar: an Historical Examination of a Process of Africanization”, The World of Music, 35, 2, pp. 109-125. Topp Fargion, J., 1995, “Nyota Alfajiri — The Zanzibari Chakacha”, Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 42, pp. 125-131.

Dissertations

Aiello, F., 2004, Sviluppi contemporanei della poesia cantata taarab a Zanzibar, tesi di dottorato, Università di Napoli “L’Orientale”. Campbell, C., 1983, Nyimbo za Kiswahili: A socio-ethnomusicological study of a swahili poetic form, Ph.D. thesis, University of Washington. Fair, L., 1994, Pastimes and Politics: A Social History of Zanzibar’s Ng’ambo Community, 1890-1950, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota. King’ei, G. K., 1992, Language, Culture and Communication: the Role of Swahili Taarab Songs in Kenya, 1963-1990, Ph.D. dissertation, Howard University. Topp, J., 1992, Women and the Africanisation of taarab in Zanzibar, Ph.D. thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies (London).

Useful websites

http://www.africaonline.com (pages about traditional and modern taarab) http://www.afropop.org/explore/show_style/ID/19/taarab (news about contemporary taarab groups) http://www.cs.indiana.edu (information about traditional and modern taarab) http://www.dumbak.com (home page of Abdulla Eissa, taarab singer resident in the UAE) http://groups.msn.com/SitiBintiSaad/sitibintisaad.msnw (Siti binti Saad) http://www.swahilicoast.com/taarab_music_of_zanzibar.htm (news about the Festival of the Dhow Countries) http://www.zanzibarmusic.org.htm (news about the Dhow Countries Music Academy) Flavia Aiello