Times in Tanzania: Music Festival: Sauti za Busara

Arrived early at the festival grounds to scope the venue and catch some soundcheck.

Sauti za Busara (sounds of wisdom) is an annual pan-African music festival held every February in Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania. I was lucky enough to have my brother from the US come and visit in order to attend the festival. As we are both musicians, it seemed a perfect place to spend some brotherly time.

The festival ran four days, from Thursday to Sunday. Music started at 4pm and artists had about one hour and rotated until the last artist at 12:30 AM. There were artists from all over Africa; Tanzania, Kenya, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Madagascar, Senegal, Angola, etc., representing a variety of sounds from traditional music, blues, afro-beat, hip-hop, taarab, and funk.

The festival was held in an old 17th century fort (aptly called the "Old Fort") about 100m from the ocean. There are two large "rooms": an amphitheater where movies and smaller acts played and then another open area adjacent to it with the main stage and vendors. The venue was magnificent; as unique as it was intimate. It's not like the festival was under-attended, rather it seemed like the perfect amount of people to feel like a big crowd but without the claustrophobic feeling of overcrowded concerts. One of the most unique things was the fact that there were breaks for prayer (Zanzibar is predominately Muslim) at 4pm, 7pm, and 8pm. Not a lot of music festivals do that!

I can't say enough good things about the festival. The line up of artists showcased such a wide variety of music that I was able to actively absorb and enjoy 6-8 hours of music for four days straight! The crowd was great, an interesting mix of foreigners and locals with a relaxed and mellow vibe. The festival was really quite family friendly and until the late hours there were many families with children running around the venue.

My only complaint was the sound crew was disappointing. I am only critical because the majority of those around the sound boards were wazungu (foreigners). I think if you take non-local staff, they should perform at the highest level. Although overall the mixing was good, there were more than a few artists that suffered from PA problems that ruined several songs or even whole sets. The most embarrassing moment came when the sound crew failed to turn off the PA "setbreak" music and a band started with their sound only coming through the stage monitors, competing (and failing) with the audience PA.

Overall, the festival exceeded my expectations. I am going to make it an annual trip, without a doubt!!!