During the week leading up to the festival, Busara Promotions works in collaboration with Zanzibar’s Dhow Countries Music Academy (DCMA), offering a treasured space for invited participants to meet and create new music. Over four days the artists experiment, develop and rehearse new compositions, or reinterpret songs from the Swahili-speaking repertoire. As their musical creations begin to gel and fuse, something magical is born.

Swahili Encounters 2020 brings together artists from Zanzibar, Tanzania, Ghana, UK, Morocco and Algeria. Highlights of these collaborations will be shared with festival audiences in a special performance.