TaraJazz Zanzibar

BIO

TaraJazz is a band of musical explorers founded in 2017.
The band has seven members, namely Suleiman Makame also known as Man Sulei, Hassan Mahenge, Mahsin Basalama, Felician Mussa, Sam Groove, Regina Juma and Christopher Weston.
Together they bring to life fusions of Zanzibar’s taarab with its Arabic, African and Eastern influences and rhythmical flavors from the diverse palette of Tanzanian musical traditions.
They include instruments such as piano and keyboards, oud, saxophone, ngoma, ganun, double bass, violin and bass.
This technique, which is the first in Tanzania, has made the band popular with the population on the island and mainland Tanzania.
Each of the band members has a rich track record with various Tanzanian music bands, however, they decided to join together as TaraJazz whilst teaching / studying at Zanzibar’s Dhow Countries Music Academy (DCMA).
The band is currently working on its debut album set to e released within the next two months.

“Another crowd igniter was TaraJazz from Zanzibar, which is touted as the next big thing to come out of the archipelago. The band blends taarab music with furious drum rhythms to create a highly skilled performance. The band members demonstrate their masterful playing with the use of the drums, violin, saxophone, keyboard and contrabass. Every composition was unexpected, much like the funk-fusion years of Miles Davis but with eastern melodies and soukous backbeats added to this musical smorgasbord.” - Music In Africa; Sauti Za Busara 2020.