Bi Kidude
Encyclopedia
Fatuma binti Baraka is a Zanzibar
i Taarab
singer. She is considered the undisputed queen of Taarab
and Unyago
music and is also a protégé of Siti binti Saad
. Bi Kidude was born in the village of Mfagimaringo, she was the daughter of a coconut seller in colonial Zanzibar. Bi Kidude's exact date of birth is unknown, much of her life story is uncorroborated, giving her an almost mythical status.
In 2005 Bi Kidude received the prestigious WOMEX
award for her outstanding contribution to music and culture in Zanzibar.
with a taarab ensemble, visiting the major coastal towns and inland as far west as Lake Victoria
and Tanganyika
. She walked the length and the breadth of the country barefoot in the early 1930s fleeing another unhappy marriage. In the 1930s she ended up in Dar es Salaam where she sang with Egyptian Taarab group for many years. In the 1940s she returned to Zanzibar where she acquired a small mud hut to be her home. She is known for her role in the Unyago movement which prepares young Swahili women for their transition through puberty. She is one of the experts of this ancient ritual, performed only to teenage girls, which uses traditional rhythms to teach women to pleasure their husbands, while lecturing against the dangers of sexual abuse and oppression.
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
i Taarab
Taarab
Taarab is a music genre popular in Tanzania and Kenya. It is influenced by music from the cultures with a historical presence in East Africa, including music from East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East and Europe...
singer. She is considered the undisputed queen of Taarab
Taarab
Taarab is a music genre popular in Tanzania and Kenya. It is influenced by music from the cultures with a historical presence in East Africa, including music from East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East and Europe...
and Unyago
Unyago
In swahili culture, most notably in Zanzibar and in some areas of western Kenya, the word unyago refers both to a set of rituals and to the music and dance styles that are traditionally associated with such rituals....
music and is also a protégé of Siti binti Saad
Siti binti Saad
Siti binti Saad was a pioneering artist in the taraab genre of east African music. In an era in which male singers predominated, she was a pioneer as a woman singer in the genre. In contrast to previous singers who sang in Arabic, she sang in Swahili. She sang in cities of the coast of Kenya,...
. Bi Kidude was born in the village of Mfagimaringo, she was the daughter of a coconut seller in colonial Zanzibar. Bi Kidude's exact date of birth is unknown, much of her life story is uncorroborated, giving her an almost mythical status.
In 2005 Bi Kidude received the prestigious WOMEX
WOMEX
WOMEX is an international world music support and development project based in Berlin, whose main event is an exposition held annually in different locations throughout Europe. It integrates a trade fair, showcases, conferences, film market, networking sessions, and awards...
award for her outstanding contribution to music and culture in Zanzibar.
Early life
As a child, she was singled out for her fine voice and, in the 1920s, sang locally with popular cultural troupes, combining an understanding of music with an equally important initiation into traditional medicine. At age 13, after a forced marriage she fled Zanzibar to mainland Tanzania. Bi Kidude toured mainland East AfricaEast Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
with a taarab ensemble, visiting the major coastal towns and inland as far west as Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. The lake was named for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, by John Hanning Speke, the first European to discover this lake....
and Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second deepest, after Lake Baikal in Siberia; it is also the world's longest freshwater lake...
. She walked the length and the breadth of the country barefoot in the early 1930s fleeing another unhappy marriage. In the 1930s she ended up in Dar es Salaam where she sang with Egyptian Taarab group for many years. In the 1940s she returned to Zanzibar where she acquired a small mud hut to be her home. She is known for her role in the Unyago movement which prepares young Swahili women for their transition through puberty. She is one of the experts of this ancient ritual, performed only to teenage girls, which uses traditional rhythms to teach women to pleasure their husbands, while lecturing against the dangers of sexual abuse and oppression.