Sinachuki Kidumbak

With creativity, Makame Faki's Sinachuki Kidumbak Group has been at the forefront in Zanzibar's most popular roots based music for many years. The kidumbak style is like a stripped down version of orchestral taarab, featuring vocals, violin, sanduku(tea-chest bass), two small clay drums (ki-dumbak), forming the rhythmic core of every such ensemble and other percussion instruments, such as cherewa, a kind of maracas made from coconut shells filled with seeds or mkwasa; short wooden sticks, played like claves.

Contemporary kidumbak music often makes use of the latest taarab hit songs. In contrast to taarab, kidumbak is much more rhythmic and the lyrics more drastic than the poetic subtlety of the taarab songs, often criticising other peoples' social behaviour. At Zanzibar weddings, birthdays and other cultural performances the singer has to be able to string together a well-timed medley of ngoma songs, and she or he has the ability to compose lyrics on the spot. One kidumbak set can last anything between one and six hours and as one song joins the next, the intensity heats up, with the main attraction being the interplay between the players and the raunchy dancing and chorus response by the wedding guests. Fronted by the charismatic singer and legend Makame Faki "sauti ya zege" (gravelly voice), Sinachuki Kidumbak is the best of its kind.

Description from Sauti za Busara: http://www.busaramusic.org