Following recent albums by Issa Juma & Super Wanyika and D.O. Misiani & Shirati Jazz, Sterns Africa releases a third CD of classic East African pop music.The Western Jazz Band is one of those names known to hardcore African music fanatics but to no one else outside of Africa (a happenstance that's about to change). It was one of the most popular groups in Tanzania in the 1960s and '70s. It took its name from the country's Western Province, where most of its members originated, though they met and formed the group in the coastal city of Dar es Salaam. The term ''jazz'' indicated that this band played modern music for sophisticated city folk; it wasn't jazz in the American sense but guitar-driven dance music that combined Congolese-style rumba rhythms and the breezy, light-hearted Swahili vocals of the coast. Tanzanians called this style saboso. Call it whatever you like, it's delightful music that won't remain unfamiliar to Americans once this album gets around.
The 17 tracks on this CD, selected and annotated by East African music expert Douglas Paterson, represent the Western Jazz Band at its peak in the 1970s, when these songs rocked the dance clubs of Dar Es Salaam. They still rock.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Tanzania: Here Comes Jahazi Literary and Jazz Festival

JAHAZI Literary & Jazz Festival 2012 promises to be an exciting three-day celebration of writing, reading, workshops, authors, musicians and open-air concerts once again, from Friday to Sunday, organizers said.

Some of the literary and music world's biggest names will be at the Jahazi Literary & Jazz Festival 2012, when Stone Town, Zanzibar, hosts a variety of literary and music events. Started last year, Tanzania's first literary and jazz festival is making a name for itself and is quickly becoming home to the greatest celebration of writing in East Africa, with visitors flocking in from all over the African continent, as well as the rest of the world

And while there is a wide variety of literary and music events taking place across Stone Town during the festival, festival line up include writers Tariq Ali, Jeffery Allen, Doreen Baingana, Haji Gora, Fatma Jinja, Billy Kahora, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Quincy Troupe and Lone Alice Johansen. Musicians are Aaron Rimbui, Grand Beats, jazz, Jamhunters, Moussa Diallo Quartet, Simon Spang Hansen& Rainbow Spirit, Tazano, Wakwetu Jazz band.

allafrica.com

http://www.jahazifestival.com/