BI. KIDUDE - TALES OF A LIVING LEGEND

Bi Kidude – Tales of a Living Legend

Book Review by Mohamed Said

Bi Kidude needs no introduction to the people of the East African Coast from Lamu in Kenya to Lindi in Tanzania and beyond where taarab is not only popular music but part of the Swahili culture. There was a time when taarab was taken as an exclusive music enjoyed and understood only by the Waswahili – people from the coast but gradually taarab has not only transcended cultural boundaries but has crossed the boundaries of its origins to find fans as far away places as Burundi, Rwanda, South Africa and other countries in Europe. None other can be credited for this but Fatma bint Baraka popularly known by her nickname Bi. Kidude. Ally Saleh, Fiona Mc Gain and Kawathar Buwahyid have teamed up to write her biography – Bi. Kidude – Tales of a Living Legend.

But I am sure it is not for Bi. Kidude’s excellence the authors decided to write her biography. If it were purely for excellence in taarab there are many icons in Zanzibar who could have footed the bill and therefore the authors could have picked from. There is the legendary – Bakari Abeid whose love song Mazoea yana tabu has become an all time taarab hit number now more than 40 years since it was composed yet when the song is played or re-done by other artists it is still sounds fresh. There is Mohamed Maulid affectionately known as Machaprala by his fans. Machaprala’s compositions are in a class of their own. One composition is totally different from the previous one in melody, lyrics and arrangement. Machaprala has introduced into taarab a style of singing and chorus never before tried by any other singer. And of course there is Mohamed Ilyas whose style of singing reminds his fans of the late Mohamed Abdulwahab the famous Egyptian singer and actor of 1950s.

The only reason which I think the trio chose Bi. Kidude is the fact that Bi. Kidude is what in all intent and purpose one can sum up as a ‘rebel.’ One has only to listen to any of the many interviews which Bi. Kidude has given to local TV stations and radios to appreciate her character. You only need to listen once to her punch lines let alone her anecdotes. Bi. Kidude is not that character that would shy away from a cheeky, hostile and protruding interviewer. Bi. Kidude would pay such kind of interviewer in kind, upfront and smiling. Bi. Kidude is our own Madonna. The authors have been able to capture this side of Bi. Kidude well and comes out brilliantly in the book in her narrations about her own troubled life as a young girl growing up in the male dominated Sultanate Zanzibar of 1920s.

In Zanzibar which is a predominant Muslim country and its society male dominated and therefore chauvinistic where an old person is expected to observe certain puritanical norms living last days in piety seclusion, the eighty years old Bi. Kidude has defied the norm and has turned upside down the tradition to the chagrin of puritans in Zanzibar society. Bi. Kidude as a real star of the stage despite her age wears make ups, enjoys her drink once in a while  and still mounts the stage not only in full packed concerts in Zanzibar but also abroad, be it in London, Johannesburg or Hamburg singing her heart out with a full orchestra backing her. Bi. Kidude has ignored her critics and the sneers remaining unperturbed. A quick glance of her photos while on stage with the lights picking her Bi. Kidude resembles the jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald in her last years.

It is a pity that publishers have decided to publish the book in glossy and not as proper mainstream publication. This may put off serious readers. Glossy books are put on a coffee table to be read as light literature, easy books to flip through for pleasure. But though the book is in glossy and therefore could be categorized as not serious book yet this expose is an encyclopedia of the life and culture of the people of Zanzibar. The cover of the book has a photograph of a smiling Bi. Kidude as if is telling her critics to paint her as she is without missing a wrinkle on her face.  The cover of the book tells it all, the smile or the laugh by Bi. Kidude is as if again she is telling the world “when you smile the world smiles with you.” Bi. Kidude – Tales of a living Legend is about her life history as young girl and his early travels to Bagamoyo and Dar es Salaam as a singer in 1950s.

Through Bi Kidude’s life the reader meets makers of Zanzibar’s modern history – Sultan Sayyid Khalifa bin Harub Al-Busaid, Sheikh Yahya Ramia of Bagamoyo (the Khalifa of Tarika Quadiriyya) father of the patriot and nationalist politician, Sheikh Mohamed Ramia, Abeid Amani Karume later to become president of Zanzibar, Wolfang Dourado who was once Zanzibar Attorney General, Tharia Topan the rich Asian businessman and Julius Nyerere. Bi. Kidude tells her own story with passion, innocence and humility without complications, unconsciously taking the reader into inner chambers of the Zanzibar society which to many still remains a distant mystery. Politicians pushing their own agendas portray the Zanzibar society under the sultan as a society which was dominated by hatred between the so called Arabs and Africans because of residues of slavery.  Bi. Kidude oblivious to all this narrates about her birth and life in Zanzibar without any prejudice. Reading through the book the reader gets an impression that the Zanzibar society was one of calm and love between people of different backgrounds.

Bi. Kidude portrays the intermingling of the influence of foreign culture and local traditions. Bi. Kidude takes the reader through the culture of the people of Zanzibar. Reading the book one is able to learn what the Swahili used to do when a child is born and as the child is growing what forces are exerted on the child as agent of socialization. The reader is taken into the education system of madrasa and its methodology of teaching where Bi. Kidude went through as a young girl. Bi. Kidude reveals that though she never had formal education as is known today and therefore cannot read the Roman script that system of teaching which she went through which emphasized on memorization of long chapters from the Qur’an sharpened her power of retention. When she began her carrier as a singer she did not have to read lyrics she only had to listen to the lyrics only once and the words would stick into her mind. The influence of Islam and its contradictions with the local customs is evident in the book. The reader gets a glimpse of what Mwaka Kogwa is all about, a custom imported into Zanzibar by Persians. Bi. Kidude in her narration of women societies unwillingly but cheekily unveils just partly what Unyago the exclusive womanhood initiation society is all about. Students of African culture will be able to pick a leaf from Bi. Kidude’s narration as somo and kungwi on this chapter.

The book moves with ease from one epoch to the other. Bi. Kidude introduces readers into the age of Zanzibar enlightenment manifested in western dances, music, and films. However the book has not been specific in marking the years in the different phases of Zanzibar’s history. It leaves the reader to use his own imagination whether that age enlightenment was before or after World War One or Two or in what time period was cinema as a form of entertainment particularly Indian movies became popular.

But what I fail to grasp in the book is the fact that did the writers through Bi. Kidude had a particular and concise message they wanted to convey to society? That message if at all is there could be taken as a yard stick to measure the purpose of the book. Surely the writers were not writing in abstract. It is difficult to believe that the writers were oblivious with the forces at play in Zanzibar at the beginning of 20^th century. Is there in the book something begging to come out of the closet? These are the questions which will be ringing in your mind once you get through the book.  In the whole book not in a single page as the writers traced Bi. Kidude life from birth to the start of her career as a singer specializing in singing songs once sang by Siti bint Saadi has there appeared in her narration that Arabs and Africans hated each other and as an African she was discriminated. Bi. Kidude black as she is states in the book that she has family connection with Al Kharusi and the Lemkis once one of the prominent Arab families in Zanzibar and proudly informs her readers that one of the princesses - Seyyid Soud was her uncle.

More than forty years after the revolution Bi. Kidude in the book talks about her Arab relatives with melancholy and fondness. This scenario does not augur with what we are made to believe that the relationship between Arabs and African was far from cordial. We are made to believe that life under the Sultan was similar to that in Deep South America during slavery. This is an unforgivable omission and the authors cannot hide behind the notion that they wrote that which was narrated to them nor can they hide behind the facade that the book was not about politics. There has never come a book from Zanzibar which was apolitical. Imaginary conflicts between Arabs and Africans are the spice which politicians and foreign writers as well locals season their cooking. If there were sharp contradictions in Sultanate Zanzibar there is no way a person like Bi. Kidude who is known for her sharp tongue, wit and being outspoken would have forgotten to narrate.

How I wish the authors could take that cue and probe further but then the focus was on the life of Bi. Kidude - the Queen of Taarab. The authors should have probed Bi. Kidude on the angle of race relations in Zanzibar before the revolution. More often than not it often happens that when writing an autobiography in which the author relies heavily on narration rather than on own research very important information is allowed to pass unquestioned and this robs the book of vital insights. It is a pity that while Bi. Kidude is extrovert throughout her life and career vital information was seemingly omitted either by design or default. All said and done the book is a must read both to casual reader as well as to student of African politics because of its hidden message.

Monday, March 30, 2009