The Story Of East African Taarab

[APWW PGM #471] [Originally aired in 2005] The “taarab” music of East Africa’s Swahili coast offers an amazing history lesson. Bantu and coastal Africans, Arabs, Portuguese, Germans, Brits, and Indians all figure in. With guest, anthropologist and author, Kelly Askew, this Hip Deep program explores the taarab music of Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Tanga, and Mombasa, Kenya. The show features rare recordings by the likes of taarab pioneer Siti Bint Saad, groups Babloom Modern Taarab and Tanzania One Theatre, and Afropop’s own recordings of Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar and Maulidi Musical Party of Mombasa.