Artists

Evans 'Pfumela' Mapfumo is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Zimbabwe. His music is inspired by real events including war, poverty and child abuse, enriched with messages encouraging peace, love and unity.

His band has a vibrant stage presence, fusing traditional rhythms played on marimba and mbira with acoustic guitar and other read more

The idea for this group was born from Matona's desire to return to the roots of the traditional music of his childhood: the sounds and music played by the many inhabitants from Comoros who lived around Stone Town. Thanks to funding from Alliance Francaise and Japanese Trust, Matona was able read more

Originating from Pemba Island, Brain Boy’s sound is inspired by traditional Taarab musicians like Makame Faki and Mohammed Isa Matona. In hearing his natural deep voice, he has been nick-named ‘Makame Faki Jr’ - the King of Kidumbaki.

Brain Boy creates a fusion of traditional Taarab and Kidumbaki with a new read more

The Ndere Troupe prides in celebrating diversity whilst emphasising commonalities. Founded in Uganda during1984 by Rwangyezi Stephen, their goals are to restore African confidence, pride and dignity, to educate artistically talented but socially disadvantaged young people, to promote positive social change and promote peace and unity through arts and culture.

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Maulidi Juma started singing in the 1960s and formed his original Mombasa Musical Party in 1972. The group has released more than 40 Recordings and continues to be one of the most popular groups of Kenyan coastal taarab. Their music exemplifies the Mombasa sound which shows the influence of Indian read more

Mcharuko is a young and talented band of students from Zanzibar’s Dhow Countries Music Academy.  They are a vibrant and upbeat band, as their name in Swahili suggests, playing different genres of music such as pop, jazz, taarab and fusion.

The band formed in 2015 to perform regular read more