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| Assistant Director Busara Promotions, Rosie Carter |
At Sauti za Busara our aim is to showcase quality music, 100% live. We focus on music that has cultural identity, whether it is played on acoustic or electric instruments. As always our priority is to shine the spotlight brightly on East Africa. That includes established groups such as FM Academia, Super Mazembe or Ndere Troupe from Uganda and also many lesser known artists that we believe deserve attention, for example Juhudi Taarab, Mkota Spirit Dancers (from Pemba) or the 70-yr old Ogoya Nengo, from Kenya.
This year, our office received more than 560 applications from groups wishing to perform at the festival. These came from all over Africa and beyond. Our Selection Committee had a tough job sifting through the piles of CDs and videos, where we implement certain criteria on selection such as “Does this group fit with the theme of “Sauti za Busara”? Will local audiences appreciate it?” We give space to at least 50% of the music represented at the festival to represent Tanzania, and try wherever possible to promote gender balance.
Of course a major consideration when organising a festival of this size, especially with the ongoing financial climate, is costs. In the face of cutbacks from the donor and corporate communities, we had to revisit our plans several times and finally reduced expenditure by taking out Day 5 and an extra stage. Out of this, we decidedly focused more on providing a platform for local talents and rising artists.
We are very excited by this year’s line up. Sharing the stage with more than twenty Tanzanian groups will be a host of African music stars from Nigeria to Sudan, Cabo Verde to South Africa, via Congo Brazzaville and several Indian Ocean islands, including Madagascar, Comoros and Reunion.
This year’s big international names to watch out for include Nneka (Nigeria), Tumi & The Volume (South Africa) and Fredy Massamba (Congo).
As usual, Zanzibar Town will be buzzing with cultural activity throughout the festival, with shows in many different venues by Nadi Ikhwan Safaa, Maulidi ya Homu ya Mtendeni, Black Roots, Culture Musical Club and more in the Busara Xtra fringe programme.
Sauti za Busara 2012 kicks off in style from 4:00pm at Kisonge Park (near Michenzani Roundabout) on Thursday 9th with what promises to be Zanzibar’s largest ever Carnival Street Parade, winding its way through the streets to arrive at the Old Fort Ngome Kongwe at around 6pm to start four nights of non-stop 100% live music.
Whilst more than 30 groups perform, also at the Old Fort in the adjacent amphitheatre, a fantastic programme of African music films and video clips showcasing highlife, taarab, kuduro, hiphop, bongo flava and more will be screened each day of the festival, from 7pm onwards.
Sat 11 February sees a historic meeting for two of Tanzania’s most popular mchiriku combos: Seven Survivor and Jagwa Music. Each group will alternate on stage, with permission to perform twice, two songs each time. For which of these groups gets to play the encore it is the audience who gets to decide: Nani Zaidi?
Opportunities for local and visiting media, music managers and arts professionals to meet, greet and network, take place every day from 3pm til 5pm at the Movers & Shakers sessions. This is a great chance to learn and exchange ideas about some of the new initiatives and success stories taking place on the Continent.
Skills-building and training for artists, managers and technicians from the region is always a priority for our NGO and next month’s festival will host several international experts to provide training in stage lighting, sound engineering, stage management, film shooting and editing, promoting African music on the web as well as audience safety issues.
Sauti za Busara is now very much on the worldwide calendar of unmissable festivals, attracting thousands of visitors from all over the globe. Our website busaramusic.org and facebook and twitter pages are updated daily in English and Kiswahili with the website now generating more than 2 million hits per month.
Sauti za Busara inevitably brings a huge boost to the local economy, with numbers of visitors to Zanzibar during February up more than 400% since it started, and hundreds of Tanzanians meaningfully employed over the years earning salaries and learning new skills.
Our priority is to keep the festival accessible and affordable for Tanzanians who are welcome to get in every day for free until 5:30pm. After then daily ticket prices vary: for Tanzanians 3,000/- TSh, East African residents (US$ 7) and international visitors (US$26).
The festival is a huge undertaking, and would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of Team Busara, to whom enormous respect is due! Busara Promotions also extends heartfelt thanks to the press and media for helping to spread the word, to all the artists and to all donors and sponsors.
This year, our office received more than 560 applications from groups wishing to perform at the festival. These came from all over Africa and beyond. Our Selection Committee had a tough job sifting through the piles of CDs and videos, where we implement certain criteria on selection such as “Does this group fit with the theme of “Sauti za Busara”? Will local audiences appreciate it?” We give space to at least 50% of the music represented at the festival to represent Tanzania, and try wherever possible to promote gender balance.
Of course a major consideration when organising a festival of this size, especially with the ongoing financial climate, is costs. In the face of cutbacks from the donor and corporate communities, we had to revisit our plans several times and finally reduced expenditure by taking out Day 5 and an extra stage. Out of this, we decidedly focused more on providing a platform for local talents and rising artists.
We are very excited by this year’s line up. Sharing the stage with more than twenty Tanzanian groups will be a host of African music stars from Nigeria to Sudan, Cabo Verde to South Africa, via Congo Brazzaville and several Indian Ocean islands, including Madagascar, Comoros and Reunion.
This year’s big international names to watch out for include Nneka (Nigeria), Tumi & The Volume (South Africa) and Fredy Massamba (Congo).
As usual, Zanzibar Town will be buzzing with cultural activity throughout the festival, with shows in many different venues by Nadi Ikhwan Safaa, Maulidi ya Homu ya Mtendeni, Black Roots, Culture Musical Club and more in the Busara Xtra fringe programme.
Sauti za Busara 2012 kicks off in style from 4:00pm at Kisonge Park (near Michenzani Roundabout) on Thursday 9th with what promises to be Zanzibar’s largest ever Carnival Street Parade, winding its way through the streets to arrive at the Old Fort Ngome Kongwe at around 6pm to start four nights of non-stop 100% live music.
Whilst more than 30 groups perform, also at the Old Fort in the adjacent amphitheatre, a fantastic programme of African music films and video clips showcasing highlife, taarab, kuduro, hiphop, bongo flava and more will be screened each day of the festival, from 7pm onwards.
Sat 11 February sees a historic meeting for two of Tanzania’s most popular mchiriku combos: Seven Survivor and Jagwa Music. Each group will alternate on stage, with permission to perform twice, two songs each time. For which of these groups gets to play the encore it is the audience who gets to decide: Nani Zaidi?
Opportunities for local and visiting media, music managers and arts professionals to meet, greet and network, take place every day from 3pm til 5pm at the Movers & Shakers sessions. This is a great chance to learn and exchange ideas about some of the new initiatives and success stories taking place on the Continent.
Skills-building and training for artists, managers and technicians from the region is always a priority for our NGO and next month’s festival will host several international experts to provide training in stage lighting, sound engineering, stage management, film shooting and editing, promoting African music on the web as well as audience safety issues.
Sauti za Busara is now very much on the worldwide calendar of unmissable festivals, attracting thousands of visitors from all over the globe. Our website busaramusic.org and facebook and twitter pages are updated daily in English and Kiswahili with the website now generating more than 2 million hits per month.
Sauti za Busara inevitably brings a huge boost to the local economy, with numbers of visitors to Zanzibar during February up more than 400% since it started, and hundreds of Tanzanians meaningfully employed over the years earning salaries and learning new skills.
Our priority is to keep the festival accessible and affordable for Tanzanians who are welcome to get in every day for free until 5:30pm. After then daily ticket prices vary: for Tanzanians 3,000/- TSh, East African residents (US$ 7) and international visitors (US$26).
The festival is a huge undertaking, and would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of Team Busara, to whom enormous respect is due! Busara Promotions also extends heartfelt thanks to the press and media for helping to spread the word, to all the artists and to all donors and sponsors.
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