Zanzibar’s Taarab Musicians Take the Lead in Protecting Their Living Musical Heritage

UNESCO and TUI Care Foundation have supported a community-based inventory of the tradition, bringing its practitioners into the work of documenting and safeguarding it.

Taarab carries Zanzibar's stories through music and poetry, giving people a way to share social observations, cultural knowledge and values across generations. Its future rests with the musicians and communities who continue to perform it, teach it and give it meaning in everyday life.

UNESCO and TUI Care Foundation have supported a community-based inventory of the tradition, bringing its practitioners into the work of documenting and safeguarding it. Conducted from 12 to 19 October 2026, the exercise also explored connections between living heritage, community participation and sustainable tourism, according to UNESCO's account.

Listening to the people who keep Taarab alive

Government authorities, cultural stakeholders, performers and heritage bearers took part in consultations and field-based engagement to document Taarab and deepen understanding of its significance. The approach placed practitioners' knowledge and experiences at the centre of the process, recognising that the people who sustain a tradition should help shape decisions about its protection and promotion.

Taarab's compositions, poetic lyrics and performance traditions reflect the historical exchanges and diverse cultural influences that have shaped the Swahili coast. Its place in Zanzibar's social life gives the inventory a purpose beyond recording musical forms: it also concerns the stories, relationships and shared knowledge carried through performance.

Boniface Kadili, Director of Culture at Tanzania's Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, described the exercise as an important step in safeguarding the country's intangible cultural heritage. He connected recognition of community knowledge with protecting national identity and passing traditions to future generations.

Zanzibar's Commissioner of Culture, Dr Omar Mohammed, emphasised the opportunity to listen to practitioners and recognise their contributions. He welcomed an approach that gives communities a central role and encourages responsible appreciation of their traditions.

Creating tourism opportunities on communities' terms

The inventory forms part of Sounds & Stories of Stone Town: Connecting Culture and Community through Sustainable Tourism, a 24-month UNESCO–TUI Care Foundation initiative.

The programme seeks to create opportunities for cultural practitioners, young people and women through cultural activities, skills development, youth engagement, heritage documentation and tourism experiences rooted in local culture.

For Taarab, the inventory provides a foundation for considering how visitors can experience the music in ways that respect its meaning, setting and the interests of its practitioners. Decisions about presentation and promotion carry particular importance when a tradition is both a community practice and something visitors wish to encounter.

Nancy Lazaro Mwaisaka, Head of the Culture Sector at UNESCO's Dar es Salaam Office, stressed that safeguarding begins with recognising the people who keep heritage alive. She described the partnership's ambition as supporting Taarab's continued practice and transmission, together with meaningful opportunities for local communities.

The initiative connects cultural safeguarding with inclusive development, giving attention to who participates in heritage activities and who benefits from them.

Keeping the music part of everyday life

The inventory coincided with the International Day of the Intangible Cultural Heritage on 17 October. Proclaimed by UNESCO's General Conference in November 2023, the observance celebrates the expressions, knowledge and practices that communities pass from one generation to the next.

The Zanzibar exercise reflects that purpose through its focus on practitioners and community participation. Documentation can help recognise what people know, but a musical tradition also needs continued performance, teaching and opportunities for younger generations to learn.

UNESCO's collaboration with government institutions, cultural organisations and local communities places those needs within a wider effort to support sustainable development.

The lasting value of the inventory will depend on how it supports the people behind the music: their ability to keep performing, share their knowledge and decide how Taarab is presented. Those opportunities can help the tradition remain a familiar, evolving part of Zanzibar's cultural life for generations to come.

Tags: