Credits:

Bi Kidude

Description:

Zanzibar in East Africa is known as a cultural crossroads between Asia, the Arab world, and Africa. In Zanzibar, the Swahili song music "tarab," which developed along the East African coast, has taken root. This music is a mixture of Arabic, Indian, and African music, and the fusion of these three different elements creates a mysterious flavor. This is the debut album in Europe and the U.S. (originally released in 1998) by Bi Kidude, a very experienced female singer who has been singing tarab since the 1920's. She visited Europe several times in the late 1980's and the 1990's, and this album contains recordings from those trips. (C)RS