In memory of Bi Kidude

Performance 28 June 2009 - Hertme/The Netherlands
The Zanzibari singer Bi Kidude (Kiswahili for "Little Granny"), who has died at the age of around 102, had a haunting voice and enigmatic stage presence. In the last 30 years she came to be widely recognised as one of the finest musicians from an island famous for spices and open to influences from the east.

She grew up in the village of Mfagimaringo, where her father was a coconut seller: of her age, she said, "I cannot say that I know it myself, but my birth was at the time of the rupee." The Indian currency was used in east Africa up to the first world war, and a near-contemporary calculated that Bi Kidude was born around 1910.

Видео In memory of Bi Kidude канала Afrikafestival Hertme