Pwani Tapes reissues hits by Kenyan taarab legend Zuhura Swaleh

Reissue of Zuhura & Party’s Taraab Ya Pwani revives coastal Kenyan tape legacy. 


New Kenyan label Pwani Tapes has reissued songs from the legendary taarab artist Zuhura Swaleh and her musical group Zuhura & Party on Bandcamp.

The compilation titled Taarab Ya Pwani was released on January 15, 2025. It features nine songs which Zuhura & Party recorded at the now defunct Mbwana Radio Service in Kibokoni, Mombasa, from the early 1970s.

The initiative in digitising and reissuing the coastal cassette legacy was supported by Santuri East Africa and other well-wishers

Zuhura Swaleh, also referred to as Queen of Taarab, started her music career at an early age in 1961, finding her true calling in a little later.

Zuhura & Party’s Taarab Ya Pwani artwork by Nabalayo.

At a time when Indian and Arab-influenced taarab was the craze at the Kenyan coast, she created a distinct Swahili taarab.Together with instrumentalists and poets like Mohamed Kombo, Juma Khamis ‘Bajees’, Sheikh Nabhany and Khuleta, Zuhura Swaleh forged a faster-paced rhythm, driven by the tashkota, drums and completed it with meaningful lyrics.

The reissue comprises more pensive songs like ‘Silimi Tena’ and ‘Nimeota Tangamano’, while ‘Toba Wangu Kandi’ and the duet ‘Popo’ showcase Zuhura’s vocal inventiveness and strike a lighter tone.

Pwani Tapes is the musical outlet of a digitisation project that was started by former Mbwana Radio employee Nassoro Mwinyi. The Mombasa native partnered with Santuri East Africa in fundraisers to preserve and revive the rich coastal Kenyan music styles.

“We are planning more releases this year which will create revenue for the artists again”, Nassoro said, stressing the importance of preserving the tapes as the climate of Mombasa has already affected the master cassettes. Some of the tapes in the Mbwana Radio archive are over 60 years old.

See Zuhura Swaleh, Maulidi Juma and Khonjo Kolio talk about their careers and how they started recording at Mbwana Radio Service in Mombasa in the documentary below.

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