Zanzibar musical club

At sunset in the streets of the ancient old town, the musical clubs of Zanzibar buzz with the joyful sounds of Taarab, the music of Zanzibar, whose style reflects two millennia of cultural exchange and the island’s place at the crossroads of the spice route. A vehicle of cultural identity and living tradition, the performance of Taarab is intrinsically linked to both the ceremonial and everyday life of the island. Its gentle rhythms accompany the listener at every step of existence- from the most solemn to the most blissful moments. Featuring artists such as the midwife and healer Bi Kidude, one of the most revered of all Zanzibar Taabab singers, this documentary immerses us in the colour, warmth and diversity of Zanzibar’s little known Muslim culture and the Taarab poets – cultural custodians of a dynamic musical heritage that must assert itself in the face of tourism and economic change

AWARDS
Jury’s Special Mention, ALGER Journées Cinématographiques
Jury Prize, DOHA Al Jazeera Documentary Film Festival, Qatar
Honourable mention, ATHÈNES Agon International Meeting of Archeological Film, Grèce

FESTIVALS & SCREENINGS
DUBAÏ Festival International du Film de Dubaï, UAE
FLORENCE Festival Dei Popoli
ISTANBUL Festival International 1001 Documentaries, Turkey
LYON Festival de Films (très) Indépendants Les Inattendus, France
TIBURON, International Film Festival, USA
TARTU Festival de la Culture Visuelle, Estonia
PARIS Festival du Film Ethnographique Jean Rouch, France
BUENOS AIRES Festival BAFICI, Argentina
ROME Independent Film Festival, Italy
MONTREAL Festival Panafrica, Canada
LONDON International Documentary Film Festival, UK
GYOR MediaWave International Film and Music Festival, Hungary
ATHENES Agon International Meeting of Archeological Film, Greece
TARIFA Festival de Cinema Africano, Spain
ZANZIBAR International Film Festival, Tanzania
KRIBI Documentary Beach Festival, Cameroon
VANCOUVER, Festival International du Film, Canada
SIROKI BRIJEG Mediterranean Film Festival, Bosnia Herzegovina
LE PORT Festival du film d’Afrique et des Iles, La Réunion
BOGOTA Documentary International Encounters, Colombia
LJUBLJANA Independent Documentary Film Festival, Slovénia
TEHRAN Iran International Documentary Film Festival, Iran
MEXICO International Documentary Film Festival, Mexico
BELO HORIZONTE Forumdoc bh, Brazil
BELGRADE Magnificient7 Documentary Film Festival, Serbia
ZANZIBAR Sauti za Busara Music Festival, Tanzania
ALGER Journées Cinématographiques, Morocco