Taj Mahal 2005 – Mkutano Meets The Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar

Due to his insatiable interest in traditional world music and his urge to innovate, the African-American singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Taj Mahal has placed the blues genre in a wider musical context for years. After experimental musical encounters of the blues with music from India, Hawaii and Mali, with the album Mkutano he turns his gaze to Zanzibar, an island on the coast of East Africa. The economically very poor country has a rich musical tradition as the cradle of taarab music: a melting pot of Arab, African, European and Asian music styles. The main taarab orchestra is the Culture Musical Club. Taj Mahal (vocals, guitar, banjo), Bill Rich (electric bass) and Kester Smith (drums) traveled to Zanzibar for a musical encounter with the Culture Musical Club (instruments: zither, lute, flute, violins, accordion, double bass and percussion)…

Due to his insatiable interest in traditional world music and his urge to innovate, the African-American singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Taj Mahal has placed the blues genre in a wider musical context for years. After experimental musical encounters of the blues with music from India, Hawaii and Mali, with the album Mkutano he turns his gaze to Zanzibar, an island on the coast of East Africa. The economically very poor country has a rich musical tradition as the cradle of taarab music: a melting pot of Arab, African, European and Asian music styles. The main taarab orchestra is the Culture Musical Club. Taj Mahal (vocals, guitar, banjo), Bill Rich (electric bass) and Kester Smith (drums) traveled to Zanzibar for a musical encounter with the Culture Musical Club (instruments: zither, lute, flute, violins, accordion, double bass and percussion)…