Artists

Sandra Nankoma is a singer-songwriter and graduate of fine arts from Uganda. Her distinctive vocals cover jazz, soul music and ballads with a unique identity that breaks codes and pushes boundaries.

In 2017, Nankoma was awarded Best Artist, Africa and the Caribbean by the Visa Pour la Creation project. This led read more

It was under the guidance of his uncle Solo Cissokho (see Ellika & Solo; Sauti za Busara Festival 2007) that Seckou Keita launched his international career in 1996, with appearances at Norway's Forde Festival, in a collaboration with Cuban, Indian and Scandinavian musicians.

In following years, Keita relocated to UK, while read more

Dr Hukwe Ubi Zawose, one of Tanzania’s music legends who spent much of his life touring the world, died suddenly in 2003. The legacy of his musical dynasty lives on.

SinaUbi & Zawose Spirit Group create the bridge connecting past and present generations, delivering a new and unique read more

Launched at Zanzibar’s Dhow Countries Music Academy (DCMA) in 2014 and comprising of DCMA teachers and students, the Taarab - Kidumbak Group was formed to participate in a competition to tour in America. Since then, they participated in three highly acclaimed tours in the summer of 2015. The first read more

Tarabband is a six-member group founded in 2008 by Nadin Al Khalidi (Iraq/Egypt) and Gabriel Hermansson (Sweden). A cross-cultural musical experience resonating tarab; the universal feeling when emotions and music become one.

Tarabband’s music takes off from Malmö, travels via Paris and the Mediterranean to Cairo and Baghdad creating the band’s read more

For millennia the Nile has sowed lands of human, ecological, and cultural beauty. Weaving together Egyptian and Ethiopian modal systems, the polyrhythmic styles of Lake Victoria with the influence of the Mediterranean, patient melodies of the deserts and pointed melodies of the highlands, the river's 4,200 miles yield a wide read more