Taarab
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| Music of Tanzania | ||||
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| Media and performance | ||||
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| Nationalistic and patriotic songs | ||||
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| Regional music | ||||
| Taarab | |
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| Cultural origins | Late 19th century |
| Subgenres | |
| Coastal taarab | |
| Regional scenes | |
| African Coastal Region | |
| Local scenes | |
 Tanzania• Zanzibar• Kenya | |
| Other topics | |
Taarabis amusic genrepopular inTanzaniaandKenya.[1][2]It is influenced by the musical traditions of theAfrican Great Lakes,North Africa,theMiddle East,and theIndian 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 SultanSeyyid Barghash bin Said(1870-1888).[5]He enjoyed luxury and the pleasures of life. It was this ruler who initiated taarab inZanzibarand later it spread all over the African Great Lakes region. The sultan imported a taarab ensemble fromEgyptto play in his Beit el-Ajab palace. He subsequently decided to sendMohamed Ibrahimfrom Zanzibar to Egypt to learn music and to play theKanun.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 andCulture Musical Club(founded in 1958) remain the leading Zanzibar taarab orchestras.[6]
Etymology
[edit]The word taarab is a loanword from Arabic. The Arabic wordطربmeans "having pleasure, delight with music".[7][8]
History of Taarab music
[edit]After the spreading of Taarab from the Sultan's palace to Zanzibari weddings and other community events, the first famous female singer oftaarabwasSiti bint Saad.[3][7]
In 1928, she and her band became the first from the region to make commercial recordings and was the first East African to be recorded in the Bombay HMV studios. She would go on to become one of the most famous taarab musicians of all time.[7]
Over the next several decades, bands and musicians likeBi Kidude,Mzee Yusuph,Culture Musical ClubandAl-Watan Musical Clubkepttaarabat the forefront of the Tanzanian scene, and made inroads across the world. Playing in a similar style,Kidumbakensembles grew popular, at least among the poor of Zanzibar, featuring two small drums, bass, violins and dancers usingclavesandmaracas.The 1960s saw a group called theBlack Star Musical ClubfromTangamodernize the genre, and brought it to audiences far afield, especiallyBurundiandKenya.More recently, modern taarab bands likeEast African Melodyhave emerged, as have related backbiting songs for women, calledmipasho.[9]
Taarab music[10]is a fusion ofpre-Islamic Swahilitunes sung in rhythmic poetic style, spiced with Arab-style melodies. It is an extremely lively art form, and immensely popular especially with women, drawing all the time from old and new sources. Taarab forms a major part of the social life of the Swahili people along the coastal areas, especially in Zanzibar,Comoros,Tanga and even further inMombasaandMalindialong the Kenya coast.[4]Wherever the Swahili speaking people travelled,Taraab culturemoved with them. It has penetrated as far inland asUganda,RwandaandBurundiin East Africa, where taarab groups compete in popularity with western-music inspired groups.[2]
Nowadays a taarab revolution is taking place and much heated debate continues about the music which has been changed drastically by the East AfricanMelodyphenomenon. Melody, as they are affectionately known by their mostly female fans, play modern taarab, which, for the first time, is 'taarab to dance to' and features direct lyrics, bypassing the unwritten laws of lyrical subtlety of the older groups, where the meaning of their lyrics is only alluded to, and never directly inferred.[2]Today, taarab songs are explicit – sometimes even graphic – in sexual connotation, and much of the music of groups likeMelodyandMuunganois composed and played on keyboards, increasing portability for different venues. Also, the groups are much smaller in number than 'real taarab' orchestras and therefore more readily available to tour and play shows throughout the region and beyond.[1]
See also
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- Askew, Kelly (2002-07-28).Performing the Nation: Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in Tanzania.University of Chicago Press.ISBN978-0-226-02981-8.
- Edmondson, Laura (2007-07-20).Performance and Politics in Tanzania: The Nation on Stage.Indiana University Press.ISBN978-0-253-11705-2.
- Njogu, Kimani; Maupeu, Herv (2007-10-15).Songs and Politics in Eastern Africa.African Books Collective.ISBN978-9987-08-108-0.
Sources
[edit]- ^abEdmondson, Laura (2007). McNaughton, Patrick (ed.).Performance and Politics in Tanzania: The Nation on Stage.Bloomington, IN:Indiana University Press.ISBN978-0-253-11705-2.
- ^abcNjogu, 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.ISBN978-9987-08-108-0.
- ^abMgana, Issa (1991).Jukwaa la Taarab - Zanzibar(in Swahili).Helsinki:Mediafrica Books. p. 101.ISBN978-9529675005.
- ^abAskew, Kelly (2002).Performing the Nation: Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in Tanzania.Chicago:University of Chicago Press.pp. 27–67, 276.ISBN978-0-226-02981-8.
- ^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.Retrieved2020-05-28.
- ^abcStone, Ruth M., ed. (2008).The Garland Handbook of African Music.New York:Routledge.pp. 14, 46–50, 136–137.ISBN9781135900014.
- ^Mohamed El-Mohammady Rizk,Women in Taarab: The Performing Art in East Africa.Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2007.
- ^Khamis, Said A. M. (2005-12-07)."Clash of interests and conceptualisation of taarab in East Africa".Swahili Forum(12): 133–159.ISSN1614-2373.
- ^"Tarab".mwambao.
External links
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