Artists

The group was formed under the Department of Culture through Zanzibar’s Ministry of Information, Youth, Culture and Sports since 1995.

The group comprises many men and women drummers, singers and dancers who maintain, preserve and develop our traditional heritage. They play different kinds of ngoma traditional drumming and dancing from across read more

Mafunzo Ngoma Cultural Group was formed in 1987 by 25 members. The group started by performing dance, choir and drama until late in 1988 when they also started including acrobatics as part of the show.

Registered under Arts Council of Zanzibar (BASAZA), Mafunzo group performs regularly during campaigns and rallies, national read more

Mapanya Band is an energetic, young and talented 'you've-gotta-dance-to-it' group that started in 2015, when all its members were students at Zanzibar’s Dhow Countries Music Academy (DCMA).

The seven musicians who are from Zanzibar and Tanzania play an energetic mix of reggae, soul, r’n’b, hiphop, afro-fusion, Arabic read more

Mohammed Issa Matona was born in 1969 in Paje, Zanzibar about 45 miles from Stone Town.

He received his primary and secondary education in Zanzibar and Morogoro but spent most of his time in making music from early age. He participated in football and athletics, but his favourite early hobby was read more

Matona's Cultural Band is comprised of musicians from Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania. Mohamed Issa Haji 'Matona' is one of Zanzibar's most legendary musicians. He is a teacher at the Dhow Countries Music Academy and has been performing music for over 40 years. 

 For the past two years Matona read more

The G Clef Taarab Orchestra performs regularly in the bars, dance halls, clubs and at weddings. In a drive to revive the variety of musical genres from the dhow countries region,  it demonstrates its musical versatility through genres such as modern taarab, mgodro, salege, chakacha, sega and mbiwi.

The read more