Will Ross reports from Zanzibar and Mombasa on how traditional Taarab music is responding to the challenge of new influences. In the 1930's the great Taarab singer, Siti Bint Saad, was a prized ...

(CNN)-- Mohammed Issa Matona is a man on a mission. A master of taarab music, Matona is also the co-founder of Zanzibar's Dhow Countries Music Academy, a school dedicated to preserving the island's ...

Not so long ago, Christopher John's days were spent herding his family's goats and cows in a rural part of Zanzibar, the tropical island off the coast of Tanzania. But he always loved music and used ...

In Zanzibar, taarab music is finding new patrons, scholars and audiences. I would sit beside him listening to the music, drumming on tables and anything else I could find Musician Mohammed Issa Matona ...

Thogoto Teachers Training College on stage with Kiswahili choral verse special speaking composition for Teachers Training Colleges in the on-going Music Festival in kisumu and emerged the winners in ...

When a genre of music that has changed very little of its original format over a period of almost a century begins to embrace contemporary influences, then its traditional fanbase is often stunned by ...

At a time when cultural musical styles have rapidly evolved, an East African genre that is nearly a century old is struggling to retain its identity. Contemporary influences have had a huge impact on ...