A magazine-style library for students, musicians, cultural institutions and curious listeners.
Swahili Jazz treats the coast as a living archive. Its musical language draws from Mijikenda communal rhythm, Swahili poetry, taarab's sensuous melodic lines, Bango's wedding energy and the improvising freedom of jazz.
The result is music described by listeners as "a beautiful mix of African, Arabic, and Indian elements" given new life by jazz improvisation.
The 2005 Alliance Francaise Spotlight on Kenyan Music programme launched Juma Tutu nationally and made "Sukari" a signature statement of coastal jazz identity.
Bango is Mombasa's wedding sound, shaped by brass instruments, Mijikenda rhythm and the lineage of master saxophonist Mzee Ngala.
From Zanzibar's courtly ensembles to Mombasa's Indian touches and Lamu's Yemeni roots, taarab carries poetry through melody.
Taarab, ngoma, chakacha, kidumbak, Bango, mwanzele, kayamba, qasida, mipasho, mafumbo, kofia, kanzu, kanun and oud.
A musician's guide to how taarab's Arabic modal scales can sit over jazz harmony without losing their coastal character.
How neighbourhood memory, mentorship and saxophone discipline shaped the bandleader's musical voice.