Zanzibar Festival Classics features highlights from the world-renowned Sauti za Busara music festival held every February in the world heritage site Stonetown, the capital of the magical East African spice island of Zanzibar. Presented by the festival’s founder Yusuf Mahmoud (aka DJ Yusuf), the CD/ DVD is a celebration of the past five years of the festival’s success and a stimulating insight of what to expect at this year’s event, a four-day extravaganza of diverse music bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds in celebration of the wealth and variety of music from the Swahili region of East Africa and beyond.
Sauti za Busara (Swahili for Sounds of Wisdom) has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s prominent annual events as was recognized at the 2007 BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music when DJ Yusuf, alongside Hildegard Kiel, was presented with the World Shaker Award. (This award recognises outstanding contribution to World Music by those who are rarely in the public eye; previous recipients of the include WOMAD director and co-founder Thomas Brooman.)
Over the years, the festival has evolved into a stage for artists from across Africa. Sauti za Busara now showcases the broadest spectrum of African music in its finest form - combining the old with the new and future generations. You’ll find everything from classic Zanzibar Taarab, Rwandan folk, Malagasy pop, Tanzanian Bongo Flava, Senegalese Rap, Zimbabwean Mbira to Mozambican cross cultural excursions and much more. The event also includes African theatre, comedy, dance, film and carnival parades in historic Stone Town and Kendwa Beach on the island’s north shore.
