R.I.P. OUR TAARABU STAR BI KIDUDE: MNATUTANGULIENI TU..SAFARI YA WATU WOTE DUNIAN"

Tanzanian singer Fatma binti Baraka, known as Bi Kidude, has died at her home on the island of Zanzibar.

Thought to be more than 100 years old, she was a legendary performer of Taarab, a style of Swahili Arab-influenced music.

National treasure'

According to Womex, she started her career as a Taraab singer in the 1920s.

In 2005, she was awarded a prize for her contribution to world music at Womex, the annual gathering of the world music industry. She continued performing and touring until recently.

"She not only helped to maintain the cultural heritage, but also reinvented it, infusing it with local rhythms, Swahili language and matters of everyday life,

The singer's exact date of birth is not known, but she is believed to have been born in 1910.

 

 UPUMZIKE KWA AMAN'AMEN' RUWA MANGI"