Zanzibari band is going to Europe

Mapanya Band was founded in 2015 and comprises former DCMA students Richard Lumambo, Juma Baraka, Salum Mpute, Japhet Vicent, Ferdinand Ngomoi, James Clemence and Tryphon Evarist. The band's music is a mixture of reggae, soul, R&B and Afro-fusion. It also fuses elements of Arabic, Latin and Indian music.

“This will be the first time Mapanya Band performs outside Africa,” vocalist Evarist told Music In Africa. “I’m sure we will learn a lot and we are also excited because we will meet different people from different cultures. I’m sure we will get stronger as a music band as we are looking forward to see how people from Switzerland interact with our music.

Although this may be Mapanya's first trip to Europe, the band has a number of big gigs under its belt including the Zanzibar International Film Festival, the Nafasi Art Space in Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo Festival of the Arts and Sauti za Busara Festival.

“People should expect a lot of good music, good melodies and harmonies. They should also expect some good music from East Africa and they will see how a group a musicians is also a group of good friends who enjoy playing together,” Evarist said, adding that the band will use the tour as an opportunity to market the African brand.

“Our aim is not only to promote African music but the African continent as well," he said. "Africa is a great place with a rich culture, great people and a lot of opportunities. We want to share that message to people outside the continent.

“We also want to tell people that there are many great and passionate musicians in Zanzibar. We want to tell people that there is a great music academy that is training and promoting the music of Zanzibar.

“We feel proud as students and graduates of the DCMA and that we can represent our academy abroad. The academy gave us a chance to be musicians and it is supporting us strongly,” Evarist said.