This weekend I went to Sauti Za Busara (Sounds of Wisdom), a music festival on Unguja, the main Zanzibar island. I also went to meet with some other volunteers to talk about an English training we're running, but this post is a work-free zone. The music festival was too exciting to write about anything else! Artists from all over Africa came to perform, with an emphasis on East African groups. There's everything from traditional music to hip-hop. It was SOOO GOOD to get to listen to live music; it's one of the things I've really been missing on Pemba. I wish I could tell the story in audio files, but pictures will have to do:
I spent the weekend with Juanito, Les, and Elgin. Elgin is a VSO volunteer like Les and Juanito, and she was kind enough to put us up at her house on Unguja. Here we are walking around the narrow, mazelike streets of Stonetown:
The festival was held at The Old Fort, one of the historical waterfront buildings in Stonetown. Between the fort and the shore is a park with delicious street-food in the evenings. It's one of the few places that caters to both locals and tourists.
Zanzibar Pizza stand! The ingredients are mixed with a beaten egg, wrapped in dough, and then fried.
A typical food stand at the park. Mounds of seafood! Mussels, fish, crab, calamari..... yum!
After dinner, into the fort for the festival! One of my favorite groups was Ndere, a traditional group from Uganda. They had really energetic dancing, colorful outfits, and very upbeat music with lots of percussion. Lots of hip shaking (the pictures don't do it justice). At one point the dancers stacked pots on their heads (some several feet high), and they kept shaking their hips and singing throughout.
There were lots of interesting instruments to be seen:
On our second day on Unjuga, Juanito, Elgin and I walked around Stonetown, had some coffee, and went to the market to stock up on food. One of the most noticeable aspects of Zanzibar architecture is the decorative wooden doorways. Juanito and Elgin are walking by a couple of them here:
Stonetown has a bustling market with tons of variety; I was jealous of all the food to be had! Juanito is buying chicken for our lunch here:
I got visit my friend Mchanga. She goes by MC (she lived in Seattle for a few months and found "MC" easier for Americans to pronounce, and she thought it was funny to have a name similar to MC Hammer). She's the daughter of my neighbor on Pemba, but is now living on Unguja and going to nursing school. I was very happy to see her; she was one of the first people to make me feel really welcome on Pemba when I arrived there.
Second night at the festival! Les and I bumped into Mussa, a friend from Pemba who like Mchanga is living on Unguja to go to school. We danced up a storm with him!
More great music to be had! I want this guys pants:
Yes this guy is playing two flutes in harmony out of his nostrils.
There was a group from Zanzibar with amazing belly dancing skills (again, pictures do no justice):
The last group I saw was Tumi and the Volume. They're a hip-hop group from South Africa with some awesomely funky bass and guitar lines. Social justice was a big theme in their lyrics, and they also were obviously trying to break down traditional ideas about what hip-hop and rap are supposed to be about. In one song, Tumi was saying rappers shouldn't be put on such a high pedestal, and telling kids they need to turn down the music, turn off the TV, and listen to their mamas.
All in all a great weekend! I took the ferry back home yesterday morning, sat on the outside deck, and got to admire the fishermen out on their dhows.
congrats dave! your jackassery knows no limits... all you do is party all the time.... no, in all honesty it sounds sounds so fun and looks like you had a blast. :)
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