Sauti za Busara makes you believe in African unity

There is a lot of politics in the air. This year in particular, it is coating everything with a fine dust of perpetual dissatisfaction.

If things are this interesting already, the pace will only increase leading up to the next election.

But there is nothing to take the mind off current political over-excitements like listening to a lot of loud music in a large crowd all at once.

Zanzibar has been hosting a unique festival for nearly a decade now with Sauti Za Busara.

It springs up from almost nowhere and always slightly earlier than expected every February, bringing African musicians from the continent and the diaspora together for roughly four days of communal jamming.

This is one of the good Tanzanian secrets, this festival, a treasure hidden in plain sight.

Gourds and real skin drums

We are talking about the kind of music that gets labelled “world music” as soon as you leave the continent — no relying on big hair and electronic beats here.

There is a lot of traditional instrumentation, gourds and real skin drums being carted over by performers from all over the world, a lot of absolutely massive percussion.

Dance troupes are not uncommon, and speaking to the crowd in whichever language you choose is fine though I have noticed that a lot of the performers go out of their way to learn a little Kiswahili.

The setting is glorious as well, naturally. This is Zanzibar, I don’t think that it could look ugly if it tried.

Besides, Stone Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and that brings advantages like unnaturally clean streets and pavements.

Perhaps the very best thing about this festival is the opportunity to stand within sweat-spray distance of world-class musicians, which is the only way to attend a concert properly in my opinion.

If you are a local, it only costs you somewhere between nothing and roughly two dollars a night to enjoy some excellent performers.

The way things are set up is also conducive: the Very Important People who pay higher prices for the luxury of a chair get exiled to a platform in the far distant back of the Old Fort.

This leaves the remaining 80 per cent of the space for dancing and mingling and simply standing around trying not to get stepped on during performances.

I often wonder why anyone would buy the VIP seats sight unseen, it is one of the slicker money-making schemes in the festival.

Hunting tourist dollars

It is not entirely cheap to attend even if you are a local.

After nine years of music-heads turning up for the show, Zanzibar’s hospitality industry has embraced the opportunity to ratchet up prices. Pretty islands must hunt tourist dollars like the seasonal crop that they are.

Because the music really is good, Busara attracts people from all over the world, many of whom don’t necessarily believe in shoes.

It also attracts everyone within a 500-mile radius who owns a digital professional camera with telephoto lens.

You can understand why, between the picturesque setting and the incredibly intimate atmosphere.

Although this year coverage of Busara included some controversy over how much local participation the festival really encourages, from the audience side at least there seemed to be plenty of it.

Sauti za Busara has a particular quirk to it.

I doubt that there is any other festival in the world in which African musicians are so warmly loved, especially if they throw out a “Mambo vipi!” (how are things!) from time to time.

If the African Union ever wants to do something more usefully pan-African than coddling old dictators, it should look into this event.

Standing united in separation

This year, for example, saw a troupe from Sudan perform with the intent of representing all of Sudan’s music.

They were together before the separation of their two countries, they stand united after the separation of their two countries.

Especially through the fusion music, this festival embodies the side of Africa that brings together the best of the past and what a good future might hold.

It is hard not to think that maybe, just maybe, there might be something to this pan-African, integration idea when standing under the stars of a clear Zanzibari sky at Sauti za Busara.

Elsie Eyakuze is an independent consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report, http://mikochenireport.blogspot.com.