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The Beat Goes On

By Lauren Hassani | Photos by Marco Javier

In Zanzibar, young and old are helping to save traditional music.

When Tryphon Evarist was a housekeeper in his early 20s, the idea of playing music for a career seemed like an impossible dream. That all changed the day he heard an ad on the radio inviting the public to audition at the Dhow Countries Music Academy, known as DCMA. There were scholarships available, even for those with no musical training at all, to study at the school.

“Before that, I never even thought that there is a music school here in Zanzibar,” Evarist, 31, says with a laugh. To his surprise, he received a scholarship to attend DCMA for four years. During his studies, he learned to play five different instruments and became highly skilled in taarab, a traditional Zanzibari music style. Today, he is not only a teacher at the academy but also an artistic director, the lead musician in a modern five-person taarab band, and a staunch protector of a vanishing cultural art form.

Musicians like Evarist, along with DCMA, are working to bring taarab into the modern era, attracting new musicians while also preserving its deep roots. Even as the genre’s popularity fades with younger generations, DCMA, which refers to itself as a “guardian of a living cultural heritage,” has become a vital institution. It serves as a conduit for passing on these specialized skills from seasoned musicians to the next generation, in an effort to prevent taarab’s decline.

Musicians like Evarist, along with DCMA, are working to bring taarab into the modern era, attracting new musicians while also preserving its deep roots.

Located in Stone Town, the historic center of Zanzibar City, DCMA offers a variety of classes and workshops specializing in the traditional music of Zanzibar and the “dhow region” — taarab, as well as other genres like kidumbak and ngoma. This region, named for the traditional Arab sailing vessels that once filled the waters around East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, served as a hub for trade and cultural exchange for centuries.

The Dhow Countries Music Academy is located in a quiet, residential neighborhood in Stone Town, Zanzibar.

Over time, new musical styles such as bongo flava — a fusion of hip-hop, R&B, reggaeton, and traditional Tanzanian music — have eclipsed taarab in popularity, particularly with younger audiences. By the time DCMA was founded in 2002, taarab was on the brink of extinction in Zanzibar.

In the 1880s, when Zanzibar was under the rule of the Sultan of Oman, taarab was brought from Egypt to the island’s royal court. Initially, the music leaned heavily on its Arabic roots but gradually incorporated native Swahili influences. This evolution was led by musicians like Siti Binti Saad, a pioneering female taarab singer from Zanzibar who, in the 1920s, began blending the music with Swahili poetry.

As taarab spread along the Tanzanian and Kenyan coasts, it absorbed influences from Indian, Persian, and European music. A distinctive instrument in a taarab ensemble is the quanun, a 72-string Middle Eastern zither that is plucked by hand. Other typical instruments include the violin, oud (a fretless lute), accordion, and various percussion instruments like the Arab tableh (drum) and riq (tambourine).

Over time, new musical styles such as bongo flava — a fusion of hip-hop, R&B, reggaeton, and traditional Tanzanian music — have eclipsed taarab in popularity, particularly with younger audiences. By the time DCMA was founded in 2002, taarab was on the brink of extinction in Zanzibar.

Amryn Salum, 16, attends a private lesson at the school.

DCMA students study a variety of instruments that are used in traditional Zanzibari music, as well as in other genres like jazz, afro-fusion, pop, and rock.

The DCMA building serves as a vibrant hub for music education and cultural exchange.

According to Halda Alkanaan, 53, Managing Director of DCMA, almost 90 percent of the instructors are graduates of the school. “We are very proud of what the academy produces,” she says, referring not only to the newly minted faculty but also to the teachers’ efforts to transcribe taarab into written form.

Today, however, the sounds of musical instruments and children’s voices reverberate through the open corridors of the school, telling a far more optimistic tale. Private lessons in violin, trumpet, and piano take place in the small classrooms lining the hallways, while group music classes are held in larger common spaces. The top floor houses a large room full of instruments of all kinds and a library stocked with sheet music and albums from around the world.

Students as young as five are eligible to take classes and the majority (around 80 percent) receive financial aid to support their studies. The school offers certificate and diploma programs, lessons, workshops, concerts, and masterclasses. To make music education more accessible, DCMA also extends its programs to local schools and rural areas across Zanzibar and Pemba, with a special focus on women, children, and youth, including children with physical disabilities.

According to Halda Alkanaan, 53, Managing Director of DCMA, almost 90 percent of the instructors are graduates of the school. “We are very proud of what the academy produces,” she says, referring not only to the newly minted faculty but also to the teachers’ efforts to transcribe taarab into written form. The teachers serve as archivists, preserving an important part of local history. “This is so that any musician who can read notes can play taarab music,” she explains.

Halda Alkaanan, 53, is the first Zanzibari native to lead the DCMA.

The school’s library holds a diverse collection of instruments, from classical Western examples like violins and guitars to indigenous Tanzanian and Zanzibari instruments.

In addition to teaching music theory, Thabit Omar Kiringe, 75, teaches trombone, piano, conducting, and composition.

One of the leading figures in this effort is Thabit Omar Kiringe, 75, a founding teacher and the current Headmaster of DCMA. Kiringe was the first person in East Africa to document traditional taarab music using notation. After a long career as a professional musician and composer, he joined DCMA as a music theory teacher. Over the past two decades, he has passed on his knowledge to hundreds of students.

Kiringe worries that the newer “remixed” versions of taarab are straying too far from the original form and that the genre could become unrecognizable. “That’s why I will keep on writing so that I can record pure, original taarab songs for future generations,” he says.

A taarab composition transcribed by Thabit Omar Kiringe, titled “Masikini Yoho Yako,” or “Your Poor Soul.”

Mohamed Ilyas, 72, regarded as one of the most accomplished traditional taarab musicians, performs at the Zanzibar Serena Hotel.

The classrooms at DCMA are filled with a mixture of traditional instruments and modern technology.

Waleed Jeba, 23, oversees the DCMA’s media content, including videography, photography, and managing the school’s online presence.

This sentiment is common among the older generation of taarab musicians throughout Zanzibar. Mohamed Ilyas, 72, is one of the stalwarts of traditional taarab; he leads the storied group Nyota za Meremeta (Twinking Stars), which still performs in venues throughout Stone Town. Ilyas has mentored various luminaries in the taarab world, including Mohamed Issa Matona Haji, the founder of DCMA.

Like Kiringe, Ilyas is troubled by the modern remixes of taarab, which he believes dilute the genre’s essence. “It’s really painful,” he says, describing the experience of hearing younger musicians alter traditional songs. “The world is changing, but culture should remain as it is.”

Ilyas is one of the last living taarab composers in Zanzibar, which once boasted as many as 25 active composers. He has lobbied the Ministry of Culture to apply for taarab’s inclusion on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, hoping that international recognition will help preserve the genre.

Abeid Suleiman, 74, is a singing teacher and taarab composer.

“We have to preserve our identity, who we are,” says Tryphon Evarist. “[Our music culture] is very important because it shows us where we came from, where we are, and where we are going.”

Despite the tensions between the traditionalists and the modernists, everyone agrees on one thing: taarab, with its deep cultural roots in Zanzibar, is worth saving.

“We have to preserve our identity, who we are,” says Tryphon Evarist. Sitting in his office at DCMA, surrounded by instruments both old and new — his quanun and accordion alongside a laptop and microphones — he reflects on the importance of the island’s musical heritage. “[Our music culture] is very important because it shows us where we came from, where we are, and where we are going.”

Evarist’s band, Waungwana, plays a fusion of taarab that musicians like Mohamed Ilyas might view skeptically. However, the group, comprised of fellow DCMA graduates and students, is energetic and youthful, with a presence on social media and SoundCloud. They are the future of taarab — whether purists like it or not.

At its core, taarab has always been a reflection of cultural blending. The genre was born from centuries of musical and cultural exchange, and its future will likely continue to involve this push and pull between tradition and innovation. As long as new generations remain captivated by its rich melodies, taarab will endure, as steady and constant as the waves of the Indian Ocean lapping at the shores of Stone Town. ●