Performances from a group of youth, the Zanzibar’s Dhow Countries Music Academy (DCMA) Young Stars Ngome Kongwe ‘Old Fort’ in Zanzibar marked an official opening of 20th edition of Sauti za Busara Festival on Friday.
Excitingly, the band was composed of young kids and adults who played various instruments, such as the violin, saxophone, drums and piano.
It was eye-catching and lovely to listen to the kids’ performance as they showed proficiency in mastering the instruments.
Among the songs they played was “Bella ciao”, which meant “Goodbye beautiful”.
The mesmerizing performance awed the mass audience, who danced with the band in each song they played on the stage.
After today’s (February 10th, 2023) performance, the festival will continue tomorrow at Fumba Town, bringing more artists from Tanzania and other parts of the world to celebrate their cultural diversity in Zanzibar.
According to the Deputy COO-CPS, Alfred Vendeline, the festival’s second day will begin earlier with performances staged at Fumba Town.
“We are hosting live performances on Saturday at Fumba Town; it will begin at 11:00am with performances from Majestad Negra from Puerto Rico, Asia Madani Band (Sudan/Egypt) and Siti & the Band of Zanzibar.
There is free entrance and free shuttles from Old Fort (Ngome Kongwe) to Fumba Town every half an hour. The shuttles will begin service at 10:00am to 1600pm.”
After the performance at Fumbo Town, more artists will stage performances at Old Fort from 16:30pm.
Moreover, during the opening at Serena Hotel in Zanzibar yesterday, the Festival Director, Yusuf Mahmoud lauded his team for such hard work and for delivering a vibrant 20th-anniversary edition of the Sauti za Busara festival.
According to Mr Mahmoud, the two decades of song and dance have made Sauti za Busara one of the most respected African music festivals that continued to operate, even throughout the challenging years of a global pandemic.
“For two decades now, we have demonstrated resilience and agility in our support for artists whilst emphasizing the power of music to speak against certain ills in our society,”
he said.
The great music event is being heralded by the theme: ‘Our Diversity is Our Wealth.’
According to festival manager Journey Ramadhan, some artists whose performances stood out over the past two decades are
Zanzibar’s late legendary Bi Kidude, Sampa The Great (Zambia), Nneka (Nigeria), Bassekou Kouyate (Mali), Blitz the Ambassador (Ghana), Sarabi (Kenya), Samba Mapangala (DRC), Ba Cissoko (Guinea), Sholo Mwamba, Saida Karoli and Jagwa Music (Tanzania).
