مدونة جمال السيد: صوت من زنجبار: بنت بركة

زنجبار اسم لمجموعة جزر واقعة بالمحيط الهندي تابعة لتنزانيا في شرق أفريقيا. الجزر الرئيسية التي تشكل أرخبيل زنجبار هي أنغوجا وجزيرة بمبا وتومباتو ومافيا من بين 52 جزيرة. وزنجبار كلمة عربية محرفة أصلها بر الزنج (زنج بر)، وتسمى الجزيرة الكبرى (زنجبار) باللغة السواحلية: (أنغوجا) أي (المَنسَف الملآن).

احتلها البرتغاليون من 1503 حتى 1698م، وفي عام 1528م استولت إمارة زنجبار على مومباسا، ثم دخلت في اتحاد مع البرتغال.. قام العمانيون بطردهم في عهد الأمام سلطان بن سيف اليعربي بداية من عام 1652م، وفي عهد السيد سعيد بن سلطان البوسعيدي أحدث طفرة نوعية في الجزيرة واختارها عاصمة لدولته لأن بها المقومات الأساسية كالموقع الجغرافي المتميز والمناخ المعتدل، وهو أول من ادخل القرنفل إليها من جزيرة موريشيوس. تولي الحكم بعده السلطان ماجد بن سعيد الذي انفصل عن عمان ثم السلطان برغش بن سعيد ثم اضحت محمية بريطانية بعد وفاته. استقلت من بريطانيا كسلطنة في 19 ديسمبر 1963. في 12 يناير 1964 قام عبيد كرومي بثورة ضد السلطان "جمشيد بن عبد الله" في سلطنة زنجبار وأعلن قيام الجمهورية. دخلت تنجانيقا مع زنجبار في اتحاد فدرالي ليشكلا جمهورية تنزانيا الاتحادية في 12 يناير 1964.

من هناك ، من بلد القرنفل، من زنجبار نلقى (فاطمة بنت بركة) المشهورة بـ (بي كيدودي) عجوزاً جاوزت التسعين من عمرها تطرب وتعوّض أهل الفن وتذكرهم بأيام الطرب والإلتزام والدقة والسلطنة. مطربة من الطراز الأول ترغمك على متابعتها بإعجاب وإندهاش كبيرين. نسمعها هنا في أغنية ذات موضوع اجتماعي وهو أحد أشكال الطرب الزنجباري المعروف بـ ( Unyago ) وإيقاع الأغنية إيقاع لحجي يُعرف عندنا بـ (التّمسيَة)(Tamsiah) وترقص عليه النساء.

Bi Kidude bint Baraka is Zanzibar's most famous cultural ambassador and East Africa's legendary barefoot diva of taarab and unyago traditional music.

Kidude started out her musical career in the 1920s, and learnt many of her songs with Siti bint Saad. She has performed in countries all around Europe, Africa, Middle East and Japan and finally recorded her first solo album Zanzibar only ten years ago, whilst already in her mid-eighties.

In October 2005, Bi Kidude was presented with the World Music Expo (WOMEX) lifetime achievement award. Renowned African music expert Banning Eyre delivered a moving tribute, in which he informed delegates that "the singer, well in her nineties yet still sporting a bone-crushing handshake, received the honours in recognition of her more than 80 years of singing and serving as a cultural mediator and advisor of the younger generations, including on matters of sex and marriage - a proper symbol of World Music's emancipatory, liberating and strengthening power."

Ngoma

Ngoma' literally translated means 'drum' and is a term used to encompass all local traditional forms of dancing, drumming and singing. There are literally hundreds of different ngoma styles throughout Tanzania, variations often being so slight that untrained eyes and ears can hardly notice the difference. A number of these originate from Zanzibar and Pemba and all are spectacular to watch.
The often elaborate native costumes emphasize the unity of the dancers' steps and the rhythm section which usually consists of several locally hand made drums and percussion instruments (such as oil tins beaten with a stick). "Ngoma ya kibati" for example, consists of a very rapid declamatory style of singing which is an improvised dialogue to drum accompaniment with singers/dancers coming in for a chorus every so often. Another example is "msewe", named after the material which is strapped to the ankles of the male dancers, supporting the rhythm section. The aforementioned are styles originating in Zanzibar’s sister island of Pemba, both featuring the eerie and powerful zumari - a locally made horn instrument that is blown using circular breathing and is comparable to the Jajouka music from Morocco which uses a similar instrument.
Each ngoma style has its own special costume: in "kyaso", men dance dressed in shirts and kikois (special woven cloth from the Kenyan coast) with a long, narrow stick in their hand, all movements beautifully coordinated. In "ndege" women in colourful dresses all hold bright umbrellas in their hands, moving forwards with slightly rotating steps and movements of the hips.
Ngoma Styles : One of the Ngoma styles is called Unyago. It is a very special form of Ngoma, which is performed at a highly secluded private female initiation ritual for young women about to be married. This ceremony can last anywhere from one day to three months and it involves all aspects of education on 'how to be a woman': detailed sexual education as well as other aspects such as clothing, hygiene, make-up, cooking, how to treat your husband's parents, your neighbours etc.
The most famous of the female initiators is Bi Kidude who usually performs the unyago ceremony together with two other drummers and several dancers. The drums played in unyago are vumi (bass drum), msondo and kinganga (taller upright drums with a higher pitch) and songs that are related to the subject accompany the drumming. Even though these rituals are performed much less frequently than in former times, they still continue to be held throughout Unguja and Pemba (as well as the mainland where similar ceremonies exist under different names).