JAPAN: The undisputed queen of East African Taarab music mesmerises Japan with her music and charm

Record ID: 453189

  • Title: JAPAN: The undisputed queen of East African Taarab music mesmerises Japan with her music and charm
  • Date: 24th July 2007
  • Summary: CLOSE UP OF BI KIDUDE'S EYES
  • Embargoed: 8th August 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAIKL2XQ9331IZ1U52O5BW7OZJ
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Tokyo residents flocked to the Shibuya CC Lemon Concert Hall on Thursday (July 19) for a rare glimpse of a legendary nonagenarian diva.
    Zanzibari singer and icon Fatuma Binti Baraka -- or more popularly known Bi Kidude, is not a household name in Tokyo. However for the die-hard fans of East African music around the world, she is a legend.
    She is famous for beating Peter Gabriel to receive the prestigious WOMEX award in 2005 for her outstanding contribution to music and culture in Zanzibar - an island off and part of Tanzania.
    Bi Kidude is also very old. She reckons 113 years-old, though even her manager concedes she is possibly 'only' 95. But with little officials records to rely on and her early childhood memory limited to local events, its anyone's guess as to actually how old she is.
    And like her age, much of her life story is also unconfirmed and practically folklore; from her roots as the daughter of a coconut seller in colonial Zanzibar, to her forced marriage, to her running away from her husband, to her singing and herbal medicinal upbringing and even her introduction to taarab music in Dar es Salaam in the 1930s.
    The word taarab derives from the Arabian language and means "to be moved or agitated," and is linked to the trance state of dancers during religious rites.
    Taarab is sung in the Swahili language which finds its roots in Arabic and Eastern Bantu, but also in recent years has gradually shed its strict Islamic background and become -- at least in the Zanzibar version -- more expressive.
    Although some western documentaries have also sought to show her as a humble and charitable person exploited by her entourage, she says she is unfazed.
    "My life has been good. It is neither rich nor poor. If I get things, I help out the poor back home. Then when I get anything, I use it on my nieces and nephews," Bi Kidude told a press conference in Tokyo on Friday (July 20). Bi Kidude, who is said to live in a mud hut back home, has no children and is known to dote on her nieces and nephews.
    Travelling around the world around through different climates is also not a major concern -- even health concern -- for the star.
    "I am not troubled by either the cold or the heat. In our place it's both cold and hot and I have not suffered one day. And when I come here sometimes I feel it's cold, the snow troubles my feet, but have you ever seen me wearing a jacket because its cold? " she said, referring to a previous concert in Finland several months ago when her managers had to stop her walking in the snow barefoot.
    Ever the performer at heart, Bi Kidude punctuated her news conference with song and chants.
    As for the audience back at the concert on Thursday, they just couldn't get enough.
    "The fact that the Japanese public have been able to see Bi Kidude this time is a very precious experience. I mean, she's a 95 year old legendary singing diva. It's mind-blowing just to get to see her," said Katsutoshi Mizukawa, 34-year-old fan of African music.
    "Even though she's pretty old, she's not only beautiful but also powerful and charismatic. It was great listening to her," added in Swahili Kanako Tomimatsu, a 22-year-old Japanese who has extensively travelled East Africa.
    For some of the Tanzanian nationals at the concert, Bi Kidude was pure nostalgia.
    "She represents home and reminds me of the culture of my country," said Maria Misawa, a 42-year-old Tanzanian national married to a Japanese national.
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