at the African music festival in Zanzibar

Just got back from a trip to Zanzibar, timed to take in the Sauti za Busara festival of African music.  Some of the music was very good, although ironically my favourite was a Senegalese singer and her band (Mamy Kounaté - and she was also on the same flight back home and even on the same bus as me from Dakar airport into town!).  Some of the more local jazz/taarab/Swahili music was also very enjoyable, and if/when I move back to London I look forward to catching a performance of the Ghanaian/British ensemble Onipa, who were much better live than I'd expected from their online stuff.  The setting helped too, with the afternoon performances in a park in front of the Old Fort, and the evening performances inside the fort.

The organisers also support a carnival parade the day before the music festival starts, and I went along to the square where all the participants gathered and prepared, and then walked alongside them in the parade.  It started in a rather grim part of town, with dismal concrete tower blocks along the route and very few spectators, but the final part was through the narrow alleyways of the old city of Stone Tower, which was much more effective.  The participants were a varied lot, from a small troupe of acrobats, through stilt walkers, to a group of hijab-wearing young school girls.  The most impressive though were those dressed for the Kilua dance, which I know from my later visit to the slave museum in town was brought by slaves trafficked from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.  You can see one (with the white face paint and feather headdress) in this picture - and the concrete tower blocks behind.

Also in this picture is a banner, which includes the words 'Paza sauti'.  This is Swahili for 'Raise your voice', but was used during the festival specifically as a backdrop message against sexual harrassment.  They never made any attempt to explain this beyond the message on the banner and posters, but as the festival progressed I wondered whether it was related to the expected/desired behaviour during the festival itself.  I was hassled from start to finish.  Local men all wanted to be my 'friend', wanted to guide me through crowded parts of the festival site with their arm around my shoulder or waist, to high five after I confirmed that I was enjoying the music (then trying to keep their arm/hand in contact) - one even told me that he wanted me to be his wife.  It was exhaustting and infuriating and one evening I'd had so much of it that I walked out when there was still an hour of music to come.  At least at that time (around midnight) the little alleyways I had to negotiate to get back to my hostel were deserted - so no hassles from stallholders trying to sell me kangas / paintings / bags / woodcarvings.

Looking around me at the number of mixed race 'couples', with a young Zanzibari clinging to their temporary white partner, I was clearly in the minority in not wanting to participate in this aspect of the festival, so in that sense I could understand the amount of attention I was getting as an unaccompanied woman.  But I'm not some nubile young thing - I'm 57!!  So clearly the desire to couple up with a mzungu is not motivated (only) by physical desire, but presumably also by the hope of some financial gain.  So driven by the relative poverty of those in Zanzibar.

I pondered this on the walk back to my hostel, and went from feeling very annoyed by the local men, to feeling sad, and then frustrated (angry?) at the inequality in the world that drives such behaviour.  If a trader in the UK raised his prices when someone walked in wearing a kippah, he would rightly be accused of anti-semitism, but when Africans raise their prices at the sight of white skin they are not generally accused of racism.  Well, they are sometimes, but it doesn't stick as they come back with the observation that their pricing is just reflecting the reality that whites have more money.  & of course in most cases this is true.  Even white backpackers on a tight budget have more money than many (probably most) of the Africans they encounter on their trip.  Some of that is, of course, the result of the terrible governance within most of Africa (a recent Oxfam report noted that the top 1% of the continent's population owns more than the rest put together), but it was initiated, and is perpetuated, by the unfair terms of trade, etc imposed by the world's big institutions.  There's really nothing that a poor young Zanzibari man can do except to look for opportunities to grab a little bit for himself.

Also on the subject of money, this trip prompted me to wonder how much of it one has to have in order to feel comfortable spending it on things one doesn't really need.  I need to travel, so that is a non-negotiable, but to help me afford more travel, I do it when I can on the cheap.  So in Zanzibar I stayed in a six-bed dorm in a hostel, which cost me $10 a night.  Yes my room-mates and I came in and got up at different times, there were differing views on whether or not to use the air-conditioning, and of course you have to keep your luggage padlocked safely in a locker - but the beds were comfortable, the hostel seemed safe and clean, there was hot water in the showers, a hairdryer in the dorm, and wifi throughout.  There was also a small kitchen, with tea and sugar, and a small outdoor terrace - and other travellers, who I had some interesting conversations with (particularly an Iraqi man and a Ugandan woman) and I spent half a day walking around and visiting museums with one room-mate.

I compared this with the little corner of Stone Town where the luxury hotels are based - eg the Hyatt at $350 a night.  I went into a couple to check out their waterfront cafes, and couldn't help but wonder what it would take to get me to stay at such a place.  Of course they are more comfortable, with way more facilities - but how much money do you have to have saved to feel comfortable spending $350 a night instead of $10?  To spend $15 on your hotel breakfast when for $3 I crossed the street to the market each morning and bought a big juicy mango, passion fruit and sweet bananas  to make myself a delicious breakfast in the hostel kitchen for $1?