Taarab royalty plays Fumba Town concert

One of Zanzibar’s newest residential developments, Fumba Town, recently paid host to a live concert of taarab music, a genre that dates back to the 1880s on the archipelago. In late April, Siti Muhuram and her band, the DCMA All Stars, performed a selection of songs from her debut album, ‘Siti of Unguja’, which has garnered huge international acclaim and was in May announced as the winner of the Songlines African and Middle East album of the year. Muhuram has familial links to the foundation of taarab music in Zanzibar as she is the great-grand-daughter of Siti Binti Saad, who was the first woman in East Africa to record her music on an album. ‘Siti of Unguja’ is a collection of songs originally recorded by Siti Binti Saad and reimagined through the “golden voice” of her great grand-daughter and musicians from the Dhow Countries Music Academy under the direction of the academy’s artistic director Matona Issa Haji. Crowds gathered outside the Kwetu Kwenu Café in Fumba Town to hear the outdoor concert. Also in attendance was photographer Vanessa Mwingira, known as @punkandblvck on Instagram, who took some amazing pictures, which we share exclusively here with Paa readers.

To find out about more music events happening at Fumba Town, visit its Facebook and Instagram sites @fumbatown