Artists

Founded in 1905, Nadi Ikhwan Safaa can probably trace its roots back further than any other orchestra in Africa.

At first, the group played Egyptian and Arabic music. In the early 1950s, they started composing their own songs with Swahili lyrics. Since then, Ikhwan Safaa - or ‘Malindi Taarab’, as they read more

WaPi (Words and Pictures) is a monthly arts festival organised by the British Council in Tanzania to develop relationships with young audiences, performers and artists. WaPi events provide a platform for new, raw creative talent from all art forms to perform and present to large audiences of young people.

WaPi has read more

Ahamada Smis, a singer-songwriter from the Comoros Islands has been living in Marseilles since first arriving in France at the age of 10. This rapper and spoken word artist has been mixing traditional music from the Comoros with urban poetry, in the spirit of afro-ngoma. Ahamada Smis’ story read more

Upendo Manase is a Tanzanian singer-songwriter, vocal trainer and entrepreneur who first learnt to sing in her church choir.

Since completing music studies, she has performed as lead or backing vocalist with various afro-fusion bands at events including the Swahili Music Festival and Sauti za Busara in Tanzania, DoaDoa Performing Arts read more

Body Mind & Soul is a seven piece band based in Mzuzu, North of Malawi. The band is led by Davie Luhanga, commonly known as Street Rat. It started in the year 2005, as Souls of the Ghetto, playing Reggae music. We won several local awards such as Kuche Kuche read more

Zakhele Madida grew up in KwaMashu, a township in Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Better known by his stage name Zakes Bantwini, he is a multi-talented record producer, musician and singer-songwriter, who is also famed for his nifty foot read more