Have you booked your ticket yet to travel to Zanzibar to celebrate Mwaka Kogwa? Well, why the heck not…?In class we celebrate Mwaka Kogwa, a joyous, several day long Zanzibari festival that marks the arrival of Nairuz, the new year on the Shiraz (Persian, now Iranian) calendar. The most extensive Mwaka Kogwa festivities take place in Makunduchi, on the southeastern coast of Zanzibar, but wherever you celebrate Mwaka Kogwa, definitely hit each other with banana stems.
Tag Archives | Tanzania
Let’s Go Wagogo
In class this week, with a focus on Tanzania, starting with a jumping game from the Wagogo, an intensely musical ethnic and linguistic group from the center of the country.
(“Cibula, aye, cibula…MATU!“) We can’t wait to actually travel to East Africa to attend the Chamwino Ngoma Festival — formerly the Wagogo Music Festiva — and hop, dance and cheer all our Tanzanian friends. Enjoy some Wagogo “mass singing” from the 2011 festival.
We are Hoppy — MATU!
We start our online class this week by becoming Tanzanian frogs. The cibula, a frog, jumps (aye), and when he does he makes the sound “MATU!” This is a tricky “jumping game” from the the Gogo people of Tanzania’s Dodoma region, which I learned from the very generous Kedmon Mapana , originator of the Wagogo Music Festival.
Zanzibar + Tanganyika = FUN
This week’s online class for kids introduces us to a pretty darned great portmanteau — in 1964 the archipelago of Zanzibar, located just off the East African coast, united with the mainland country of Tanganyika to form (ta da) TANZANIA! Join me this week as we leap like Wagogo frogs and celebrate the Zanzibari new year with a tussle.
The Singing Farmers of Sukumaland
As far back as ancient Egypt farmers sang “rhythmic a capella songs” that would synchronize digging and planting movement. Singers often improvised and changed lyrics over time. In this video we see farmers in action in Sukumaland, Tanzania.
The Beautiful Bi Kidude
In our All Around This World in-person music classes we love to sing an East African love song about life’s joys and imperfection, performed by Zanzibari music legend Bi Kidude. The undisputed star of “tarrab,” a multicultural music genre we find in Zanzibar, Kidude passed away in 2013 at (at least) 100 years old. but will live forever in the hearts of taarab-loving Zanzibaris. Thankfully film-maker Andrew Jones captured some of her latest live performances and included them in his documentary about her oh-so-complicated life, “As Old as My Tongue: The Myth and Life of Bi Kidude.”
Terrific Taarab of Tanzania
We are so grateful for Zanzibari taarab, a stunning example of the mix of East African, Arabic, Persian and South Asian influences found in Eastern Africa.
Zanzibari taarab is dramatic Swahili orchestral music of Tanzania (specifically of Zanzibar) that features instruments from several continents: Middle Eastern oud and dumbek, Indian tabla, western electric keyboards, and the a Japanese taishokoto, described as “a banjo/typewriter key hybrid.”
