Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 0778-672772;
www.tatuzanzibar.com
; Shangani St) Tatu is a good drinking spot, with
its 1st-floor pub and 3rd-floor rooftop cocktail lounge, where you can soak in the great sea
views.
Mcheza Bar
PUB
( 024-225 0117; mtonirestaurant@zan zibar.cc) A happening sports bar that draws
mainly an expat crowd; see also
Click here
.
Mercury's
PUB
( 024-223 3076) Waterside sundowners plus live music some evenings.
ENTERTAINMENT
Entertainment Zanzibari-style centres on traditional music and dance performances.
Old Fort
TRADITIONAL DANCE
(admission Tsh6000) On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evening from 7pm to 10pm there
are traditional
ngoma
(dance and drumming) performances at the Old Fort.
TAARAB MUSIC
No visit to Zanzibar would be complete without spending an evening listening
to the evocative strains of
taarab,
the archipelago's most famous musical ex-
port.
Taarab,
from the Arabic
tariba
(roughly, 'to be moved'), fuses African,
Arabic and Indian influences, and is considered by many Zanzibaris to be a uni-
fying force among the island's many cultures. A traditional
taarab
orchestra
consists of several dozen musicians using both Western and traditional instru-
ments, including the violin, the
kanun
(similar to a zither), the accordion, the
nay
(an Arabic flute) and drums, plus a singer. There's generally no written mu-
sic, and songs - often with themes centred on love - are full of puns and double
meanings.
Taarab
-style music was played in Zanzibar as early as the 1820s at the sul-
tan's palace, where it had been introduced from Arabia. However, it wasn't until
the 1900s, when Sultan Seyyid Hamoud bin Muhammed encouraged formation
of the first
taarab
clubs, that it became more formalised.
One of the first clubs founded was Akhwan Safaa, established in 1905 in
Zanzibar Town. Since then numerous other clubs have sprung up, including the
well-known Culture Musical Club, based in the building of the same name, and
