Zanzibar: The Moon and the Music
October 30, 2008
The radio, wired up to a car battery, crackles into life in the near darkness outside the first house of Kizimbani village, where a small crowd has gathered to listen for the moon.
Above us the sky is pitch black, with not even a star visible. The new moon, if it puts in an appearance tonight, will mean the end of a long hard month of fasting for Zanzibar’s predominantly Muslim population. During daylight hours in the lunar month of Ramadan the faithful may not eat, drink, smoke – or have sex. Only the sick, young children and travellers are exempt. In temperatures that rise to over 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the wavy heat of the afternoons, giving up food and water is no token gesture. From tonight, though, an exhausting twenty-eight days of abstinence is up and the party can begin. Or can it?
If the new moon we’re all waiting for chooses to show her face in the blue-black darkness above us, the celebrations for which planning is already well under way will commence first thing in the morning. Electricity poles are being strung up around fields, girls and women have been pounding red henna leaves and black picco to paint their hands and feet for days now, and every store in town has been full to bursting with last-minute shoppers stocking up on bottles of orange Fanta, cuts of meat, bags of Ugali and starched nylon frocks. The children are worked up to the point of hysteria and the atmosphere of suppressed excitement and anticipation crackles in the hot air.
No moon, however, means that everyone must wait another 24 hours before breaking their fast. Such an important event cannot be left to chance – so not only is everyone on Zanzibar scanning the skies for their own moon, but we’re all gathered eagerly around the nearest radio, waiting for the government to announce a new moon sighting above any part of Tanzania or coastal Kenya. This is the ancient kingdom of the Swahilis, whose modern-day inhabitants still retain the faith brought here by the Arabic races whose fast-sailing dhows once controlled the East African coast and its lucrative slave trade.
As the night wears on it becomes apparent that no moon is to be forthcoming, in Zanzibar or anywhere else. Anticlimax prevails, and another hot, thirsty day goes by before the longed-for sickle appears on cue above the lights of Blues restaurant in the harbour and a cheer goes up from the ragged groups of watchers along the water’s edge. For the next five days and nights, it’s time for a party that promises to put the tourists’ Millennium celebrations of a week ago firmly in the shade. ‘Dancing tonight’ says my friend Hisdori mysteriously to me at lunchtime. ‘Beer tonight’ says his mother, usually the picture of demure matronhood in her kanga and headscarf, but today with a gleam in her eye and freshly painted henna on the palms of her hands.
For most of the year Dole is nothing more than a rather greasy looking patch of ground next to the road which runs to the spice plantation at Kizimbani. Tonight, however, it is lit up with an eerie whitish glow from the dozens of hurricane lamps hanging off the stalls selling tiny packets of cassava chips, plastic hair decorations and big thermos buckets full of dark purple tamarind juice. Kids run in circles playing obscure games, or dance with their siblings to the muted beat of the disco.
As twilight becomes night, a procession of tiny inert bodies – draped over the handlebars of their mothers’ bicycles, or sitting asleep bolt upright at the front of their fathers’ motorbikes – begin to leave the party. Even preparing to go to Dole is an exhausting process – it takes all day and involves plaiting hair, painting henna and climbing gingerly into stiff nylon party dresses that crackle with static electricity. Little boys don’t escape, stepping cautiously around in a variety of outfits and styles, from shiny three piece suits à la Bugsy Malone to full English football strips, complete with socks.
Some boys go the whole hog, dressing up as little girls in a sort of African ‘trick or treat’. Adorned in kangas, with rags stuffed under their skirts for maximum wiggle and scarlet cochineal smeared on pouting lips, they proceed from house to house to drum and dance in return for cake and sweet lemongrass tea.
Now, however, the children glow in the dark like fireflies as they plod up the road behind their parents, drooping with fatigue. Most have had their finery captured for posterity in the tents set up around the periphery of the party by professional photographers, who bustle around arranging family groups like football teams.
Tonight is the last night of the celebrations, and as the children leave the party turns from school fete to rave. Teenagers and twentysomethings are now bounding wildly around to tunes that become increasingly bombastic. Pushing aside the curtain onto the dance floor proper, the noise hits me like a wave as a perspiring DJ plays gangsta rap at top volume and a mass of sweating, pop-eyed lads bound around in Kangol hats and Nike t-shirts.
I spot Hisdori and the gang at the far side of the field, trying to outdo each other in extravagant imitations of Tupac and Puff Daddy. There’s Ali, normally tall, skinny and lugubrious, but tonight waving his spindly arms above his head and grinning insanely. He’s accompanied by Small Brother Of Ali, just as skinny but at 14 not quite as lugubrious or as tall. Iddi, forever Mr Cool, all chin beard and mirror shades, has is own shadow in Small Brother Of Iddi, exuding adolescent attitude also but not quite old enough for the beard.
Seeing me they grab my arms and try to make me dance, but it quickly becomes apparent as I try and fail to match their rhythm that I am the quintessential white person on the dance floor, so I settle for a seat on the sidelines and reflect on the fact that the angry lyrics they’re dancing to could have been written by descendants of the very slaves who once huddled in the caves below the harbour in Zanzibar town, waiting to embark for the New World. No trace of this irony, though, shows on the happy features that are glowing in the light of the hurricane lamps and shouting greetings to passers by without breaking their rhythm.
Just as the music and the dancing reach a sweating fever pitch, the DJ announces a Tarab tune. Tarab is the music of Zanzibar – a wailing vocal over a beat that is curiously Arabic and African at the same time, and traditionally only danced by females. The lads on the dancefloor converge on the hapless man, shouting and waving their fists in outrage whilst still moving compulsively to the beat. The MC is unmoved, breaking into English to emphasise his point. “Ladies only pleeese… LADIES ONLY!” The ladies appear, shyly at first but then with increasing confidence as the beat picks up. A stately conga formation begins to wind its way around the dance floor, the girls’ eyes, covered in picco and rendered drooping and sloe-like by infusions of nutmeg juice, glinting under their demure headscarves. The ladies hold up thousand-shilling notes above their heads as they sway along together, a symbol of their families’ wealth and prestige.
The boys, however, are not to be dismissed that easily. They take to the floor, t-shirts draped over their heads to imitate the girls’ kangas, Rizla packets held aloft in place of money, wiggling their rears and rolling their eyes as their conga picks up a giggling victim and tries to hustle her off the dance floor. Helpless with laughter, I’m rolling around the floor when I feel a little hand tugging at mine and a 12 year old voice whispering “Dance, lady, dance!”. I look up at his face, and recognise Hisdori’s cousin, one of the mini drag queens from the village this morning. Who am I to refuse?
Gemma Pitcher
Sauti za Busara 2009
October 30, 2008
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See 2008 web coverage at these places:
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Food in Tanzania
October 30, 2008
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING AND ENVIRONMENT
Situated in East Africa just south of the equator, Tanzania is made up of a mainland area and the islands of Zanzibar, Pembe, and Mafia. Mainland Tanzania lies between the area of the great lakes—Victoria, Tanganyika, and Malawi (Niassa)—and the Indian Ocean. It contains a total area of 945,090 square kilometers (364,901 square miles), slightly larger than twice the size of the state of California. A plateau makes up the greater part of the country. The Pare mountain range is in the northeast, and the Kipengere mountain range is in the southwest. Mt. Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters/19,340 feet) is the highest mountain in Africa. On the borders are three large lakes: Victoria, Tanganyika, and Lake Malawi.
Two-thirds of Zanzibar Island consists of low-lying coral country covered by bush and grass plains. The western side of the island is fertile, and Pemba, apart from a narrow belt of coral country in the east, is fertile and densely populated.
There are four main climatic zones: the coastal area and immediate interior, where conditions are tropical; the central plateau, which is hot and dry; the highland areas; and the high, moist lake regions.
HISTORY AND FOOD
The earliest known inhabitants in Tanzania’s long and colorful past were primarily hunter-gatherers. In addition, Tanzania has had many of years of influence from other parts of the world. In the first five hundred years A.D., vegetables, millet, and sorghum, and fruits and fish were mostly eaten. By A.D. 800, however, Muslim Arabs established trade routes to and from the country. They introduced citrus fruits, cotton plants,
and pilau and biriani (spicy rice and meat dishes), having the greatest effect on the cuisines of coastal regions and the island of Zanzibar. The inhabitants introduced coconut oil and various tools and textiles to the Arabs in return.Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived in East Africa in 1498 and aggressively took control of the coastal regions and trade routes. Da Gama (called afriti, a devil, by locals), who was on his way to the Middle East and India, stopped at present-day Tanzania to rest his men, who were suffering from scurvy (a lack of vitamin C). Chungwa (oranges, rich in vitamin C), relatively unknown to Europeans at the time, were introduced to the ailing crewmen. The Portuguese dominated the region until the Arabs regained control in 1698. Despite nearly two hundred years of rule, the Portuguese left little behind. The introduction of cassava, a root crop that has become an important staple in the Tanzanian diet, and groundnuts (peanuts) were probably their most significant contributions.
The number of East African slaves who were bought to work Tanzania’s plantations increased as the result of the discovery of clove, a key spice in the country’s cuisine. After slavery was abolished in 1873, the British and Germans battled for control over Tanzania (then known as Tanganyika). At first, the British (who introduced tea and boiled vegetables) prevailed, encouraging the cultivation of crops that could be exported for profit. By 1891, the Germans took control. They established coffee and cotton plantations. The success of the plantations, however, diminished during World War I (1914–1918), when nearly 100,000 troops and civilians died as a result of fighting, influenza (flu), and famine. Tanzania became an independent nation on December 9, 1961.
Chai (Tea)
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 cups water
- 3 to 4 cups milk
- 3 to 4 teaspoons tea (plain black is best)
- Cardamom, ground
- Ginger, ground
- Sugar
Procedure
- Combine all the ingredients together in a large saucepan.
- Add a few pinches of cardamom and a pinch of ginger.
- Bring the mixture to a low boil and simmer for a few minutes.
- Strain the tea into a teapot and serve immediately.
Coconut Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- ½ cup onions, chopped
- ½ cup green peppers, chopped
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 3 Tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
- 1 cup fresh tomato, seeded and cut into chunks
- 2½ cups canned kidney beans with liquid (or black-eyed peas)
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 3 cups water
- ½ cup cooked rice
- ½ cup shredded coconut
Procedure
- In a large saucepan, heat the oil and sauté the onions until softened.
- Add green peppers, curry powder, salt, pepper, butter or margarine, and tomato, and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add the kidney beans with their liquid, the coconut milk, and water.
- Simmer gently for 10 minutes, Stir in the cooked rice and heat for about 2 minutes.
- Ladle into bowls. Top each serving with 1 Tablespoon of shredded coconut, and serve.
Serves 8 to 10.
FOODS OF THE TANZANIANS
Most food that makes up Tanzanian cuisine is typical throughout all of East Africa. Meat is not widely consumed in comparison with other areas of the continent. Cattle are normally slaughtered only for very special occasions, such as a wedding or the birth of a baby. Cattle, sheep, and goats are raised primarily for their milk and the value they contribute to social status. When meat is consumed, however, nyama choma (grilled meat) and ndayu (roasted, young goat) are most popular.
The Tanzanian diet is largely based on starches such as millet, sorghum, beans, pilaf, and cornmeal. A meal that could be considered the country’s national dish is ugali, a stiff dough made of cassava flour, cornmeal (maize), millet, or sorghum, and usually served with a sauce containing either meat, fish, beans, or cooked vegetables. It is typically eaten out of a large bowl that is shared by everyone at the table. Wali (rice) and various samaki (fish) cooked in coconut are the preferred staples for those living in coastal communities.
The introduction of various spices by the Arabs is highly evident in a popular coastal dish, pilau. It consists of rice spiced with curry, cinnamon, cumin, hot peppers, and cloves. Matunda (fruits) and mboga (vegetables) such as plantains, similar to the banana, ndizi (bananas), pawpaw (papaya),
biringani (eggplant), nyana (tomatoes), beans, muhogo (cassava), spinach and other greens, and maize (similar to corn) are frequently eaten, many of which are grown in backyard gardens. Ndizi Kaanga (fried bananas or plantains) is a local dish that is very popular with Tanzanians and tourists alike. In the cities, Indian food is abundant.Chai (tea), the most widely consumed beverage, is typically consumed throughout the day, often while socializing and visiting with friends and family. Sweet fried breads called vitumbua (small rice cakes) are commonly eaten with chai in the mornings, or between meals as a snack. Chapatti (fried flat bread), also served with tea, is a popular snack among children. Street vendors commonly sell freshly ground black coffee in small porcelain cups, soft drinks, and fresh juices made of pineapple, oranges, or sugar cane. Adults enjoy a special banana beer called mbege made in the Kilimanjaro region (northeast Tanzania). Aside from the common serving of fresh fruits or pudding, desserts such as mandazi (deep-fried doughnut-like cakes) are sold by vendors.
Ugali
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 cups white cornmeal (cornmeal grits, farina, or cream of wheat may be substituted)
- 2 cups water
Procedure
- Heat water in a saucepan until boiling.
- Slowly pour in cornmeal, continuously stirring and mashing the lumps.
- Add more cornmeal until it is thicker than mashed potatoes (It may resemble Play Dough consistency.) Cook for 3 or 4 minutes and continue to stir.
- Serve immediately with any meat or vegetable stew, or any dish with a sauce or gravy.
- To eat the ugali, a small amount of dough is torn off, shaped into a ball with a dent in it, and then used to scoop up meat, vegetables, or sauce.
Chapatti (Fried Flat Bread)
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- Warm (almost hot) water
- Pinch of salt
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- Cooking oil
Procedure
- With very clean hands, mix the flour, salt, and chopped onion with enough hot water to make a smooth, elastic dough.
- Coat the ball of dough with oil and roll flat on a floured surface until about ½-inch thick.
- Cut the dough into ½-inch wide strips.
- Roll the strips of dough into spirals and let them rest on a floured surface.
- Roll each spiral into a round, flat pancake, about ¼-inch thick.
- Cook over a medium to high heat griddle or frying pan.
- Fry the first side without oil, just until the dough sets.
- Turn over and lift one side enough to pour 1 teaspoon of cooking oil underneath.
- Turn and press the chapatti gently into the oil, with the back of a spoon, so it absorbs the oil evenly and fries to a light golden color. Turn just once.
- The chapatti should be soft and supple when finished.
Makes about 8 chapatti.
Mango-Orange Drink
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon orange peel, grated
- 2 cups mango, mashed
- 1 cup orange juice, fresh
- ½ cup lemon juice, fresh
Procedure
- Heat the water with the sugar and orange peel over low heat until the sugar is dissolved.
- Cool down to room temperature.
- Add the mango flesh and the orange and lemon juices and mix well. Serve cold.
Makes about 2 quarts.
Ndizi Kaanga (Fried Bananas or Plantains)
Ingredients
- 8 whole plantains or green bananas, peeled
- Lemon juice
- Brown sugar (optional)
- Butter, melted
- Nutmeg
Procedure
- Melt butter in a frying pan.
- Cut and quarter the bananas or plantains.
- Dip the banana pieces in lemon juice and place them in the buttered frying pan.
- Lightly brown, remove, and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with nutmeg and brown sugar, if desired. (Ndizi is typically not sweetened in Tanzania.)
Serves 8 to 10.
Wali wa Nazi (Rice in Coconut Milk)
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice
- 1 can coconut milk plus water to make 4 cups of liquid
- 1 teaspoon salt
Procedure
- Measure 4 cups of liquid (coconut milk and water) into a saucepan.
- Add 1 teaspoon salt. Heat the liquid until it boils.
- Stir in 2 cups rice. Lower heat, cover, and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed (about 25 minutes).
- Serve hot alone or to accompany a main dish.
Serves 8 to 10.
FOOD FOR RELIGIOUS AND HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS
The people of Tanzania follow a variety of religions. Roughly one-third of the population is Muslim (believers in Islam) and one-third is Christian. Nearly all of the island of Zanzibar and much of the mainland coastal regions consist of Muslims; most Christians live inland. Hinduism and indigenous beliefs make up the majority of the remaining one-third who believe in a specific religion.
The warm Christmas in Tanzania is a special time for Christians. The majority of people are invited to a guest’s house for dinner Christmas night. Pilau (rice dish containing spices), chai, and a chicken, red meat, or seafood dish are usually served. A traditional walk along the beach following dinner may leave some very wet—Christmas falls during East Africa’s rainy season.
Ramadan is probably the holiest time of the year for Muslims. During this month-long observance, neither food nor drink may be consumed between sunrise and sunset, often a difficult responsibility in the country’s warm temperatures. Eid al-Fitr, the feast that ends the month of fasting, is always eagerly anticipated by Muslims of all ages. In expectation of the feast, vendors sell cassava chips and tamarind juice made from the tamarind (a flat, bean-like, acidic fruit), and some rush to the stores to purchase plantains, fish, dates, and ready-made bags of ugali for the long-awaited meal. To make certain the feast can take place (and that Ramadan has ended), many gather around to listen to the radio, hoping to hear that the new moon has officially arrived in the night sky. When it is announced, children often dress up (similar to Halloween in the United States) and walk from house to house for cake and lemongrass tea.
Secular (nonreligious) holidays also produce a lot of excitement. On August 8 each year, Farmers and Peasants Day is celebrated. On this day, the country pays tribute and expresses appreciation to farmers and peasants for helping to feed the country and keep agriculture thriving. Zanzibar, one of the country’s islands, has its own celebration every January 12, marking the anniversary of the island’s independence from Britain.
A Typical Christmas Dinner Menu
Pilau (rice mixed with a variety of spices)
Chicken, grilled lamb, or seafood cooked in coconut
Beans or eggplant
Fresh fruit
Rice or potato pudding
Chai (tea)
On the special day of a Tanzanian wedding, gifts are often given to the bride-to-be by her family so that she is prepared to cook and care for her new husband. A kinu (wooden mortar for crushing grains and vegetables), a kibao cha (coconut grater), a kebao cha chapatti (round table for preparing chapatti), and a upawa (wooden ladle) are examples of traditional gifts. On such a special occasion, mbuzi (roasted goat) is often prepared.
Supu Ya Ndizi (Plantain Soup)
Ingredients
- 2 or 3 (1 pound) green plantains, peeled
- 6 cups chicken broth (3 cans of chicken broth may be used)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Procedure
- Slice the peeled plantains and put them into a blender or food processor with 1 cup of the chicken broth.
- Blend them together until smooth and free of lumps.
- Pour the remaining 5 cups of chicken broth into a large saucepan. Stir in blended plantain mixture.
- Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until soup is thickened (about 45 minutes). Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 8 to 10.
Date Nut Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup dates, chopped
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup sugar
- 5 Tablespoons butter
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups flour
- ½ cup nuts, coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Procedure
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Boil the water in a saucepan and place the dates and baking soda in a bowl.
- Pour the boiling water over the dates and baking soda, stir, and let cool.
- In a separate bowl, cream together the sugar, butter, and egg.
- Add the salt and flour gradually to the butter mixture.
- Add vanilla, nuts, and the date/baking soda mixture. Stir to combine.
- Pour batter into a buttered loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden and the top springs back when touched.
Serves 10 to 12.
Sweet Potato Pudding
Ingredients
- 6 medium-size sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds), peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
- 3 cups milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon saffron, ground
- ½ teaspoon cardamom, ground (optional)
Procedure
- Bring 1 quart of water to a boil in a saucepan.
- Drop in the sweet potatoes and cook, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender (can be piered with a fork).
- Drain in a colander and return potatoes to the pan.
- Stir in the milk, cream, sugar, saffron, and cardamom.
- Heat slowly to boiling over medium-low heat, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon.
- Reduce the heat to low, stirring from time to time, and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour, or until the potatoes are reduced to a puree and the mixture is thick enough to hold its shape.
- With the back of a spoon, rub the pudding through a fine sieve into a serving bowl.
- Serve at room temperature or refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Just before serving, sprinkle the top with additional cardamom, if desired.
Serves 6 to 8.
MEALTIME CUSTOMS
Guests are polite and respectful when visiting a Tanzanian home. Loose-fitted clothing is appropriate attire, since most meals are served to diners seated around a floor mat or low table. Prior to the meal, a bowl of water and a towel may be passed around to the diners to wash their hands. The bowl is passed to the next person with the right hand, as the left one is considered unclean. The right hand should also be used to dip into the ugali, which is commonly served in a communal bowl before the main meal.
Goat, chicken, or lamb is likely to be served, for those who can afford it. Most families eat meat only on special occasions, such as a wedding. A wali (rice) dish and a vegetableor maharage (beans), may also be served along with chai (tea). Greens are popular side dishes, and are often prepared with coconut and peanuts (Mchicha) or tomatoes and peanut butter (Makubi). Fresh fruit is the most common after-dinner treat, although sweets such as honey or potato cakes may also be offered. It is acceptable to leave food on a plate at the end of a meal, as this reassures the host that the guest is satisfied.
Eating customs vary throughout the country according to ethnic group and religious beliefs. However, the typical family meal is almost always prepared by the mother and daughters, usually on a wood or charcoal fire in an open courtyard, or in a special kitchen that is often separated from the rest of the house. The midday meal is usually the largest, consisting of ugali, spinach, kisamuru (cassava leaves), and stew, though kiamshakinywa (breakfast) is seldom forgotten. Spiced milk tea and freshly baked bread are popular in the morning. Men and women in Muslim households (about one-third of Tanzanians) often eat separately. Taboos may also prohibit men from entering the kitchen at all.
Only a little over half of all children in Tanzania attend primary school, according to UNICEF. As an added incentive to attend school, foreign countries (such as the United States) are helping to offer free lunches to students during the day. The Tanzania School Health Program aims to ensure child health, including the maintenance of clean water and periodic physical examinations. In addition, the program promotes the growth of school gardens to assist in nutritional education. A typical Tanzanian school lunch may be porridge made of millet, groundnuts (peanuts), and sugar, cooked outside in large kettles over an open fire, often accompanied by milk.
Mchicha (Spinach, Coconut, and Peanuts)
Tanzanians often prepare spinach as a side dish.
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 2 packages (12 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- ½ cup coconut, grated
- ½ cup peanuts, finely chopped
Procedure
- In a 2-quart saucepan, melt the butter and add the 2 packages of thawed spinach, grated coconut, and chopped peanuts.
- Toss lightly until the ingredients are combined, heated through, and all the liquid is absorbed. Add salt and pepper, if desired.
- Serve as a vegetable with any meat, poultry, or fish dish.
Serves 8.
Makubi
This dish combines spinach with tomatoes and creamy peanut butter.
Ingredients
- 2 packages frozen spinach, thawed (or 2 cups fresh)
- 1 can (16 ounces) tomatoes, chopped
- Salt, to taste
- ½ cup smooth peanut butter
Procedure
- Combine the 2 packages (or 2 cups fresh) spinach and can of chopped tomatoes in a saucepan and heat until bubbly. Add salt to taste.
- Stir in peanut butter and continue cooking over low heat until heated through. Serve.
Serves 8.
6 POLITICS, ECONOMICS, AND NUTRITION
About 40 percent of the population of Tanzania is classified as undernourished by the World Bank. This means they do not receive
adequate nutrition in their diet. Of children under the age of five, about 31 percent are underweight, and nearly 43 percent are stunted (short for their age).Tanzania is one of the world’s poorest countries and undernourishment is prevalent, especially in children. The young life expectancy age of 42.3 years is mostly due to malnutrition, tropical diseases such as malaria, and very unsanitary conditions. Open sewers, uncovered garbage piles, and contaminated streams and lakes are sources of disease. Although living conditions in larger towns and cities are typically better than in rural areas, unsanitary conditions and malnourishment are widespread throughout both. Childhood deficiencies in Vitamin A (which can cause blindness) and iodine are the country’s most serious malnourishments.
FURTHER STUDY
Books
Asch, Lisa. Tanzania. Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company, 1997.
Camerapix Publishers International. Spectrum Guide to Tanzania. New York: Interlink Publishing Group, Inc., 1998.
Frey, Elke and Kavid Kyungu. Explore the World: Tanzania. München: Nelles Verlag, 1998.
Lauré, Jason and Ettagale Blauer. Tanzania. Canada: Children’s Press, 1994.
Tanzania, Zanzibar & Pemba. Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, 1999.
Webb, Lois Sinaiko. Holidays of the World Cookbook for Students. Phoenix, AZ: The Oryx Press, 1995.
Web Sites
CultureConnect.com. [Online] Available http://cultureconnect.com/content/travel/gemma1-1.htm (accessed April 4, 2001).
Life in Africa. [Online] Available http://www.lifeinafrica.com/fun/recipes/chapati.htm/ (accessed April 3, 2001).
Recipes of Africa. [Online] Available http://www.balaams-ass.com/journal/homemake/rcpafras.htm (accessed April 3, 2001).
Sallys-Place.com. [Online] Available http://www.sallys-place.com/ (accessed April 3, 2001).
The Swahili Coast Magazine. [Online] Available http://www.swahilicoast.com/ (accessed April 5, 2001).
Unicef. [Online] Available http://www.unicef.org (accessed April 3, 2001).
Zanzibar.org. [Online] Available http://www.zanzibar.org (accessed April 5, 2001).
Music Crossroads – Youth Empowerment Program
August 17, 2008
Music Crossroads International (MCI) is a unique youth music empowerment through music program initiated in 1995 by Jeunesses Musicale International (JMI) and presently encompassing five Southern African countries: Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Since the program began 12 years ago as Music Crossroads Southern Africa, MCI has reached almost 30.000 musicians and 600.000 audiences. MCI is comprised of workshops, festivals and competitions to promote the African traditional and contemporary urban music of young African musicians. The project aims at creating sustainable musical structures in the target countries, improving self-awareness and social inclusion of young African individuals. MCI promotes the participation of young women in the program and addresses HIV/AIDS prevention through the Relationship workshops.
Thanks to the generous support from SIDA (Sweden), the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign affairs and UNESCO, MCI has developed into the largest cultural program in Sub-Saharan Africa and the most important youth empowerment program on the African continent.
The Music Crossroads program is divided into 3 fundamental areas:
Musical:
An integral part of the MCI program is the “musical mining”, where national and InterRegional juries identify the stars of tomorrow. As MCI is sifting the best young talents of the five Southern African target countries, we can also assist selected artists and bands to build sustainable musical careers, at home and abroad, by offering musical and performance training, songwriting and arrangement, providing band management and music rights. The MCI Centers also provides rehearsal space, equipment, training and support for local member musicians.
African borders are often difficult to cross due to visa and other regulations. It is also difficult to find opportunities for artists and bands to perform in neighboring countries. Therefore, we are increasingly developing the cross-border exchange of promising MCI acts between the target countries.
Social:
Since 2000, MCI has developed its own dedicated HIV/AIDS prevention program, the “Relationship Workshops” – today mandatory in all festivals, a discussion forum on relations, sex and gender issues, challenging attitudes and offering useful information on how to protect oneself against HIV/AIDS.
But MCI has taken it a step further: as the young MCI musicians are role models for many, the “Songs for Life” program transform since 2004 the learning from the Relationship Workshops into lyrics and music through dedicated songwriter’s workshops, where the best songs are selected and recorded in studio by respective band and then compiled on CD’s and distributed to radio and TV and disseminated to Millions of young people, to ponder the content of these songs with a message.
MCI offers opportunities and hope to young people who otherwise would have little of both. Through numerous workshops, the program gives the individual participants insights, self-awareness and -respect, music, business and social skills, leading to social inclusion and a path to a professional future.
Structural:
MCI recognizes that talent alone is not enough to enable youth to build careers in music – local infrastructure, facilities and human resources must exist to support and nurture growth.
The Music Crossroads International program has over the past 10 years identified and established contacts with key individuals and organizations in the five target countries. As part of the Strategy Program 2006-10, MCI aims at establishing professional, sustainable national structures that should be apt to take on the national management and funding of the MCI program and related activities as from 2011.
The MCI Program promotes organizational setups – staffing, offices and training centers – as well as regional coordination and training of staff and volunteers on relevant issues such as fund-raising, lobbying, PR/Promotion and communication.
The national Music Crossroads entities will engage and train young music organizers and act as an infrastructural resource to develop the national music industries.
Tanzania
Tanzania has 37 million people, in which there are very few Institutions dedicated to the arts. Music Crossroads Tanzania (MCTZ) aims to provide quality training and performances whilst strengthen existing local networks by working with partner organizations in the fields of Music Training, Music Management, HIV /AIDS and Self empowerment.
Music Crossroads was introduced into Tanzania in 1999. Since then it has grown from having four local festivals to nine festivals across the entire country with the goal of establishing two more festivals by end of 2008. Music Crossroads Tanzania is now a recognized non-profit organization, is one of the founding partners of the Youth Leadership Network and stands out as the only countrywide program that offers free music education, training and promotion to the youths of Tanzania.
ARTISTS
An integral part of the MCI Program is the “musical mining”, where National and InterRegional juries identify the stars of tomorrow.
As MCI is sifting the best young talents of the five Southern African target countries, we can also assist selected artists and bands to build sustainable musical careers, at home and abroad, by offering musical and performance training, songwriting and arrangement, providing band management and music rights.
The MCI Centers also provide rehearsal space and equipment for young aspiring artists. Promotion, studio recordings and concert engagements of contracted MCI-winners are pursued on local and national levels, while the InterRegional MCI winners are offered professional training and CD-productions followed by international concert performances and tours on major stages in Europe, North America and Asia. African borders are often difficult to cross due to visa and other regulations.
MCI acts as a bridge between the five African nations and through cross-boarder musical collaborations and exchanges we bring cultures together to celebrate their richness and diversity.
Bi Kidude – As Old as My Tongue
January 22, 2008
By Freddy Macha
I am seated in this hall with roughly, fifty people, watching a film. Beautiful, cosy, intimate, Arcola Theatre is based in the Turkish quarter of Stoke Newington, north London.
For several weeks the Africa Mine Music and Movement festival has been here.
This late Sunday afternoon we are looking at a film from Zanzibar and every now and then you can hear me chuckling in the silence of mostly non-Kiswahili speaking audience.
This is because although the movie is sub-titled, most times the translation misses certain moods that you cannot pick up while reading a foreign language.
In other words I am proud to be observing something from my own culture. This is rare and unique, as I am the only Tanzanian in this space.
The other person that would exchange Kiswahili words with me is Englishman, Andy Jones. It took him three years to make this documentary on Zanzibar`s Taarab singer legend, Bi Kidude.
As Old As My Tongue gives a lesson on East African history, culture, music and the role of Swahili women in society.
In their advert flyer, the Screen-Station producers say Bi Kidude (real name Fatma Baraka) is `probably the oldest singer on the world stage today.`
Old? That is the first point. Old has these days become 35 to 50 years in Africa. Poverty and diseases are killing our people prematurely.
But Bi Kidude tells us she was born poor, her father, a coconut climber (mkwezi) and began singing at the tender age of ten in the 1920�s.
She performed with the legendary musician Siti Binti Saad eulogised by writer Shaaban Robert, fifty years ago. Bi Kidude continues singing Siti Binti Saad`s songs.
Both Shaaban Robert and Siti Binti Saad are, sadly, gone but Kidude, which means a tiny thing, (she explains how the name came about) is still here.
While replying to questions, film director, Andy Jones is asked whether Bi Kidude, was affected by the tough politics that we relate to Zanzibar, including the bloody Revolution of January 1964.
`She sang while Arabs ruled. She sang while the British ruled. And she sang around the times of the Revolution and is still singing amidst today�s conflicts of CUF and CCM.`
This makes her as old as modern Zanzibar. That is why her age is so fascinating. Some cynical islanders claim she is cheating, that she is in her 90`s. Others say 105. Bi Kidude herself declared recently, she is 113.
Whatever the number, one truth lingers. Here is a cherished great grandmother still smoking her cigarettes (even the film`s poster uses this image) drinking beer (and Konyagi, some say), sweeping her house and cooking ugali with fish and spinach (as shown in the film). She is also doing the most significant thing.
Touring around the world including (as witnessed in the documentary) Paris and England�s World Music and Dance festival (WOMAD) in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
The portrayal is just as about her music as her life style.
One of the reasons that artists are said to be mirrors of society is the ability to reflect culture and customs.
Bi Kidude plays drums, sings and leads Ngoma ya Unyago ceremonies in Zanzibar.
We see the Women Only rites of passage dancing. It might appear erotic to the foreigner�s eye but it is something fast disappearing especially in East African cultures.
`During Unyago women are taught sex and how to be with husband. Theory and practise.`
Quips a woman in the film. And technically speaking, the best quality of as old as my tongue is that those in it, including Bi Kidude herself, act, freely tell their stories, playing the role of both narrator and participant.
In most documentaries you have the constant interference of the film-maker.
The good thing about Andy Jones is to let Bi Kidude be her own voice, from beginning to end.
Consequently, this work is almost a good lesson for aspiring cinema makers wanting to cast their egos aside and let life narrate it`s own tale.
Plus a subject that has always bothered me.
Reading many warm reviews my attention is especially drawn to London`s Guardian (Sultans of Swing) in January 2007:
`Zanzibar`s music traditions, are it seems, becoming more popular among foreign fans than the young local people who take their home grown music for granted.`
While over a century old, Bi Kidude is certainly a living legend, a treasure of African music, an example of women of great achievement (winner of the international 2005 WOMEX Award), she seems to be appreciated more by foreigners, as exemplified by the one who just made this movie.
We hear a local Zanzibar producer lamenting how her Taarab music is not played in local radio stations especially on Tanzania mainland.
Despite her icon status, the musician is still treated as a nobody, almost a freak.
Sounds very familiar. Another such legend was the late Hukwe Zawose who (unknown to many in his home) used to be the most recognised international figure from Tanzania second only to Mwalimu Nyerere.
Like Bi. Kidude , Zawose was hardly heard in our radio stations.
His Gogo Ilimba (or Mbira) stuff was described as Tanzania`s classical music by London producer Gabriel Prokofiev.
Gabriel, a remarkable musician, speaks Kiswahili and had stage managed Zawose many times; just like Andy Jones became part of the retinue of Wazungu helping value our own exceptional talents, treasures and stars.
The moral? Let us try and applaud, appreciate Bi Kidude and her music while she is still alive. Documentary will soon be out on DVD.
Source: Guardian
Exploring Zanzibar; a Tropical Island Adventure – By Annabel Skinner
January 1, 2008
Exploring Zanzibar; a Tropical Island Adventure – By Annabel Skinner
Zanzibar wraps its reality around you like a lingering fairytale. This tiny archipelago of Indian Ocean islands that once lured sailors, Sultans and slavers to its far-distant shores is so charismatic that it sweeps you into its shadowy romantic past and sunlit present all at once, and finally sets you down, all sun-bronzed and laden with spices and island art, and memories of an exceptionally sparkling and colourfully abundant sea.
The main island is small and easy to explore, with glorious white sand, palm-fringed beaches rewarding you for just a couple of hours’ drive to the North coast and the same to the East, along mainly hopeless but endlessly fascinating roads flanked by simple homesteads, roads worn more by foot or bicycle and frequented by chickens. There is a time warp here, this place where the past is so responsible for the present, where mobile phones, internet connections and television are all relatively recent, and where the history and culture is so imbued that you can simply stretch out beneath the dappled shade of the coconut palms and soak it up. Welcome to Zanzibar, and a world apart.
Sailors and traders from the first century AD came to the lands of ‘Zinj el Barr’, the Black Coast, bringing beads, porcelain and silks to trade for gold, slaves and spices, ebony, ivory, indigo and tortoiseshell. They waited for annual monsoon winds to fill their dhow sails and bear them across the Indian Ocean; today’s visitors usually arrive in a small ‘plane or ferry from Dar es Salaam. But these still afford a measured approach, allowing a breathtaking vision of sparkling cerulean waters over sandbanks and reefs, and then into Stone Town, the ancient island capital, still more of a town than a city, a maze of winding pedestrian streets in a hotchpotch of rooftops, a mass of corrugated iron overwhelming the historic stonework beneath.
Helplessly entwined in its own history, the people of Zanzibar are the Swahili, evolving from the influx of mainly Arabian and Persian immigrants who settled on the East African coast and islands to trade and escape the political upheavals of the Gulf two thousand years ago. Their cultural history was founded in sailing dhows, similar to those that glide by its shores today, boats that brought people, language and cultures and long centuries of power wrangling.
The Arab immigrants were overthrown by the Portuguese in the 15th century, until the Sultan of Oman finally saw them off for good in 1698 and started building the Stone Town of today; the Old Fort on the harbour was built on the remains of a Portuguese church dating back to 1600. Visitors to Stone Town still encounter the grandiose vision and dominant architectural style of a confident young Sultan who transferred the seat of his sultanate from the contentious capital of Muscat to the breezier climes of Zanzibar in 1832, and then began palace building in earnest, and seeding the coconut palms and clove plantations which soon defined Zanzibar as the ‘Spice Island’.
Driving through the island centre now, it is worth stopping to explore the spice plantations, where a guided walk for passing tourists is likely to be more lucrative than vast crops to export, but it is a fine sensual pleasure to crumble cinnamon bark straight from the tree, to breathe the scent of cloves drying in the sun, to taste and guess the spice from a handful of pods and powders. These are well used by the chefs and kitchens in beach hotels, where fishermen daily bring the catch of the day to be grilled, baked, battered or blanched with assorted Zanzibar spice.
The coast is dotted with hotels, self-contained beach hideaways that relish their privacy and provide various levels of style and comfort. I have been to most and head north by choice, to the northernmost peninsula which is occupied by Ras Nungwi Beach Hotel. The name is a very literal Swahili translation, but it says nothing of how this beach is secluded and the coral sands are blanched very, very pale. It does not tell how the wonderfully translucent and clear the sea is here, where a coral reef surrounds the shore creating a shallow wide expanse to explore until the tide rises high and then turquoise waves crash onto the beach. It is a naturally beautiful place.
Turtles come ashore to lay their eggs when the moon is full, and the surrounding reefs are a thriving colourful world to snorkel and dive. Ras Nungwi Beach Hotel is essentially respectful of its place, each room constructed from local wood and coral rag to create a number of thatched round houses along the beach, with lodge rooms in gardens behind. Soft sand pathways link the central thatched and open-sided restaurant to the rooms, pool and dive centre, providing the comforts of a fine hotel with a rustic, beach hideaway style. This is a fine place to lie back and soak up Zanzibar, crack open a coconut, watch the dhows on the far horizon and look forward to spice-scented, star filled African night.
Veiled secrets
January 1, 2008
Veiled secrets
SLAVERY and sultans shadow the East African islands of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania, north of Dar es Salaam.
Slavery is the key historical issue, but with domes and minarets piercing the skyline, it is the stone legacy of the sultans that entices visitors. Stone Town, the old part of Zanzibar City, on the western coast of the main island, is the place to discover it all.
Merchant ships from Persia, Arabia and India have traded with Zanzibar for 2000 years, leaving a potent blend of Eastern and African culture. The islands were long owned by the sultans of Oman, who took over from the Portuguese in 1698. By 1840, Zanzibar was so important for Omani trade with East Africa that its capital, Stone Town, became the sultans’ headquarters.
Like many places in Africa, Zanzibar has reinvented itself as a tourist destination. Since 1964, when the last sultan was overthrown, Zanzibar has been a separate state within mainland Tanzania. It is made up of two large islands: Unguja (Zanzibar Island) and Pemba, plus several islets. Its capital and only large settlement is Zanzibar City, which embraces New City and Stone Town. I spend time in the pungent, narrow streets of Stone Town, the economic and cultural hub of old Zanzibar and now a World Heritage site.
Outside Stone Town are clove and coconut plantations, long, perfect beaches and coral reefs, rare, long-tailed red colobus monkeys and, on the small island of Nungwi, giant sea turtles, all in a humid tropical climate. But in Stone Town I walk beside carved Arab doorways and slave cells, feel the cobbled streets beneath my feet, look up at cool verandas and experience the potent sense of 2000 years of connections between Africa and the East.
Best monument to the slave trade: After the abolition of the Zanzibar trade in 1873, the Anglicans built a cathedral on Stone Town’s Creek Road, where the old slave market used to be. The place where the altar now stands was once the whipping post where slaves were tested for toughness: if they wept, their price went down. The marble around the altar is blood red. Beneath the market are their cramped cells.
Best door: The ornate, studded doors of Stone Town have a clear Persian influence but a distinct style. The maze of alleyways is dotted with these immense, elaborately carved doors. It was a custom in Zanzibar for a builder first to order his doorframe and then build the house around it. In 1857, adventurer Richard Burton commented: “The higher the tenement, the bigger the gateway, the heavier the padlock and the huger the iron studs that nail the door of heavy timber, the greater the owner’s dignity.” The most interesting door, behind the House of Peace Memorial Museum, dates back more than 300 years, which makes it reputedly the oldest in Zanzibar.
Best social quirk: Zanzibar is predominantly Muslim because of the influence of the Omani sultans. The women are supposed to cover themselves modestly but the gaiety of Zanzibaris is evident in the fun the women have with their cotton wraps, worn over their heads and as skirts. The girls wear a brightly patterned scarf, called a kanga. A Zanzibari girl might wear a kanga with a message on it directed at someone in her social group; one I spot says, “Don’t compete with me, you can never beat me.” Another girl, realising the message is directed at her, might go home and change into a kanga that says, “A confident person requires no reason to practise envy.”
Best-named attraction: Built in 1883, the House of Wonders was originally a royal palace. There is a 3.3m door gilded with texts from the Koran, and 12 other magnificently carved doors, reminders of the vast and showy wealth of the sultans. In one room I see traditional, ornate ebony furniture and, on the other side, European couches in flowery, 1960s kitsch, the influence of the other wives, perhaps.
The climax of Sultan Barghash’s flamboyant building spree, it has tiers of balconies, a clock tower, and a grand position on the waterfront behind the Forodhani Gardens between the Palace Museum and the Omani Fort. It houses the dreary-sounding but quirky Zanzibar National Museum of History and Culture.
Best resort: The white sand, azure sea and small pine forest on Mnemba Island, just off the northeast coast of Zanzibar, lead me to suspect Ursula Andress will pop out of the ocean at any minute. The entire island is a resort, and with only 10 evenly spaced villas, it feels as if I own a secret paradise. Apart from the waiter who brings me a drink to accompany the breathtaking sunset, the only disturbance is from the little Suni antelopes that occasionally scamper around my villa. www.mnemba.com.
Best guided tour: If you have ever wondered how nutmeg, ginger, tamarind, guava, carambola, menthol or cloves are grown, a spice tour is for you; such guided tours provide local knowledge you might otherwise miss. Highlights are the lipstick tree, with pods that produce a vibrant red dye, and soapberry trees, with berries that lather like soap when you rub them. Tours from 9am to 2pm include a lunch featuring spices encountered on the tour. Eco & Culture Tours, with an office on Hurumzi Street, offers a genuine medicine man as a guide. More: www.ecoculture-zanzibar.org.
Best drink: Taken in the shade while escaping the tropical midday sun, dawa is mostly vodka and ice but tastes of lime and honey. Dawa means medicine or magic potion in Swahili, for reasons which can rapidly become clear. The top floor of ETC Plaza, at the corner of appropriately named Suicide Alley and Shangani Street, is a good place to try dawa and the bar comes with ocean views; like Zanzibar, this drink is never bland.
Best hangover cure: Everywhere I go, people stand barefoot beside the orange dirt roads, selling sugarcane. I use a knife to slice the raw cane and lick the inside. Taken with a glass of water, it refreshes for the rest of the day. I also recommend corn sold on the streets: it tastes dry and like toffee.
Best mode of transport: A dalla-dalla, or a Zanzibari bus, is a beaten-up Toyota pick-up truck with a wooden roof and wrought-iron sides; these should carry 20 passengers but often 40 pile in, the extras hanging precariously off the sides. A dalla is five Tanzanian shillings, which is what the journey originally cost. They are still very cheap, about 300 shillings (26c) a mile. The No.2 dalla-dalla travels 20km north of Zanzibar town to the Mangapwani slave cave where, after the trade was abolished, slaves who were about to be sold were kept hidden in hollowed-out coral cellars.
Best street food: East Africa’s best street market is held every night by the waterfront at Forodhani Gardens in Stone Town. In the twilight, grilled fish and meat on skewers and octopus look and smell enticing. The crowds can be a little pushy, but it is a great place to wander even if you don’t buy. I have already eaten, but it is still hard to resist the food, fresh and sizzling in the dark.
Best shopping: Fine Zanzibari wooden chests are not quite as good as a door but are still hammered and studded, and have secret compartments. Some of the finest examples are in the Abeid Curio Shop opposite the cathedral. But how to get one back home? Spears and knives pose a similar problem. For those with less ambitious tastes, watercolours of the Stone Town doors are intense and enchanting. I buy one for about $15 in an art studio in the Omani Fort. The abstract carvings of the Makonde tribe are also eerie and powerful, with columns of interwoven human figures.
Bustling Mchangani Street in Stone Town consists of stalls crammed with kangas of every colour and grade of magnificence. Cathedral Street has some of the opulent furniture hastily left by rich Arabs after the 1964 revolution. I also visit Zanzibar Curio Shop in Changa Bazaar for a taste of pre-1964 wealth. And I return to the night market in the Forodhani Gardens for cheap Masai jewellery and carvings.
Best story: Princess Salme, daughter of the sultan of Oman, was born here in 1844 and shocked her family by converting to Christianity after falling pregnant and eloping with a young German merchant. When she died in 1924 she still had the dress she eloped in and a bag of sand from a Zanzibar beach. Her book Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar (by Emily Ruete, born Sayyida Salme) makes good pre-visit reading.
Best sundowners: Africa House Hotel on the coast in Stone Town was the English club from 1888 onwards and still has a colonial expat feel to it. It is a perfect place to end a walk around Stone Town: you can watch the sun sink into the Indian Ocean, with a dawa in hand.
Best end to the evening: Tower Top Restaurant at Emerson & Green Hotel, 236 Hurumzi St, Stone Town, a five-minute walk from Africa House, is world class. Atop a hotel, in a tower straight out of Arabian Nights, the restaurant seats about 20, most lounging on Arabian-style cushions and eating off low tables. The fixed-price menu includes dishes such as battered pepper shark and curried fishcakes with chutney and yoghurt. Enjoying a five-course meal, I look over Stone Town with all its faiths and facets, at an Anglican church, a minaret and a Muslim temple. There is a warm breeze from the Indian Ocean. Children scramble to collect kangas put out to dry on hot tin roofs. A violinist in a white robe plays eerily beautiful music, as if trying to raise a magic carpet, while his robe moves in the breeze. www.emerson-green.com.
Best last word: Locals greet tourists with jambo and enthusiastic tourists say jambo back, thinking they are saying hello in Swahili. But locals instead say mambo vipi, Swahili slang for “stay cool”. Use it to say hello and goodbye and impress the locals.
Reproduced from The Australian – Michael Stothard – August 09, 2007
Sauti za Busara 2008
December 30, 2007
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