SAUTI ZA BUSARA

2014

www.busaramusic.org

FESTIVAL NARRATIVE REPORT

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REST IN PEACE BI KIDUDE (d. 17 April 2013)

Sauti za Busara 2014 was the first edition of the festival to be held since the passing on 17th April 2013 of this well-loved doyenne of Zanzibar music and culture. To honour her memory, the Board of Trustees of Busara Promotions, and senior management, took to the stage. Chairman of the Board, Simai Mohamed Said, spoke briefly and lovingly of “our Bibi”, with whom the organisation had a long and close relationship. Journalist, writer and new board member, Ally Saleh, read a poem that he’d written in memoriam. A short tribute video was played on screens in the venue.

Bi Kidude was well loved and is sorely missed.

We dedicate these pages to her memory.

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C O N T E N T S 1. INTRODUCTION 4

2. ARTISTS, EVENTS & PROGRAMMING 5 a. Main Stage 7 b. Carnival Parade 9 c. African Music Film Programme 10 d. Busara Xtra 10 e. Movers & Shakers Networking Forum 11 f. Santuri Safari 12

3. THE CREW 13 a. Festival Crew 13 b. Technical Training & Skills Building 13 c. Venue, Infrastructure & Security 14

4. THE AUDIENCE 14 a. Audience Demographics 14 b. Audience Perceptions of the Festival 16

5. PARTNERSHIPS 17 a. Festival Recycling 17 b. African Music Festivals Network 17 c. Vis A Vis & Casa África 18 d. Hivos & Santuri Safari 18 e. Oslo World Music Festival 19 f. African Music Development Programme 19

6. PRESS & MEDIA 20 a. Advance Publicity & Promotion 20 b. Busara Website 21 c. Newsletters & Press Releases 21 d. Press Conferences 21 e. Press & the Festival 22 f. Festival Coverage 22

7. FUNDRAISING & INCOME GENERATION 23

8. THANK YOU! 24

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1. INTRODUCTION

THE FESTIVAL IN NUMBERS 4 nights 32 bands 18+ countries 5 continents 270 musicians 36 hours of live music 100 carnival parade participants 23 Busara Xtra fringe events 15 bands from East Africa 7 bands led by women 4 days professional networking forum 18 stalls of traders 150+ crew employed 90% Tanzanian crew members 59 media houses represented 67,420 newsletter subscribers 1,563,266 hits on busaramusic.org (Jan) 18,354 visitors to Zanzibar (Feb)*

* According to entry statistics from Zanzibar Association of Tourism Investors (ZATI)

An Overview of the Festival The 11th edition of Sauti za Busara took place over a four-day period, from the 13th – 16th of February 2014, at Ngome Kongwe (Old Fort) in Stone Town, Zanzibar.

As it has successfully done for an entire decade, Sauti za Busara brought together people from all over the continent and, indeed, the globe, with the united aim of celebrating the wealth and diversity of African music. The range of music on offer in this edition was the largest in its history, with bands representing 18 countries – not including The Nile Project, whose members come from more than 7 African countries!

This year, in addition to the ever-popular Movers and Shakers networking forum and the African Music Film Programme, Sauti za Busara, also incorporated a DJ-centred project, Santuri Safari, and ended the festival with an after-party.

The 11th edition saw Sauti za Busara launch into its second decade with many accolades, including being listed by Songlines magazine as one of “25 of the best international festivals of 2014”, and CNN naming it one of “7 African music festivals you really have to see”. Busara Promotions Busara Promotions, the NGO behind the festival, exists in order to promote African music and empower the people who create and sustain it, from the musicians and audiences, to the technical team, to the cultural practitioners who work in the music sector. Busara Promotions works year-round to contribute to the development and professionalization of the East African music industry, building networks and strengthening the arts infrastructure.

One of the organisation’s goals is to celebrate cultural diversity so that it can serve as a catalyst for positive social change. Busara

Promotions strongly believes that live music and festivals have a transformational effect on society by bringing diverse people together to share in the universal language of music.

This Report The feedback received from audience surveys, artists, media, donors and sponsors, partners, vendors, suppliers and crew, was largely positive. Challenges were addressed as they arose.

This narrative report details the major achievements of Sauti za Busara 2014, addresses some of the challenges faced, and evaluates the impact of the festival, based on feedback surveys, and written reports and input from various stakeholders and participants. Based on the feedback received, Busara Promotions will continue to provide quality African music while creating a hub of activity and innovation, and maintaining a top-quality international festival that has proven to be vital for East African music and a thriving cultural scene.

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2. ARTISTS, EVENTS & PROGRAMMING About the Festival Busara Promotions’ governing vision of “A vibrant East African music industry prominent on the world stage” comes to fruition on the Sauti za Busara stage every year. It has been a platform for artists from the country and region to showcase their talents to a local and international audience. The festival also helps local musicians learn, gain inspiration and expand their horizons when they see and hear artists from other parts of the Continent.

Bringing Together Diverse Audiences People have commented that one of the highlights of Sauti za Busara is the diversity of humanity that is represented. It is a charming feature of the festival that children take over the earlier part of the event, making it a family festival, while the latter part of the night is a mish-mash of ages and nationalities. People from all over the world descend on Zanzibar, making it a hotbed of activity in East Africa over the long weekend. Expat communities from all over the continent make it a pilgrimage of sorts, as do African citizens from far and wide. People come from everywhere, including from far-flung places like Australia, Japan, the Caribbean and Brazil – one Norwegian journalist had come directly from a festival near the North Pole!

Festival Accessibility Sauti za Busara has gained a solid position amongst the world’s leading festivals, which has allowed the festival to charge competitive admission prices more on par with other international festivals of similar reputation. Prices have risen steadily to keep up with rising costs of inflation and ambitious goals for first-class production standards and artistic programming. Higher ticket prices for international visitors greatly subsidises admission costs for the local population. General admission tickets were 125 USD for a four-day pass, with a 50% discount on full price for African citizens and residents, and a 90% discount for Zanzibar and Tanzanian citizens, with “early bird” prices further discounted by 10 – 20% depending on when they were booked. Ticket prices for locals remained at just 5,000 TZS (~$3 USD) for a full day pass, despite increases in ticket prices for international visitors, and access was free for locals before 5pm.

“Sauti za Busara is a special festival because we don’t have something like this in Tanzania, so it’s a unique thing for Tanzanians to have the platform that the whole world could see us. Compared to other countries where you find many, many festivals – festivals are not a big deal – here it’s very special and I’m very pleased to be one of the acts in this festival.” Jhikoman, well-loved Tanzanian reggae artist, at Sauti za Busara, where he launched his 2014 – 2015 world tour.

“I really enjoyed Sauti za Busara. Mind you I've been wanting to go to Busara for years and I'm just a music festival junkie. Having said that what impressed me most about Busara were: The festival site, the atmosphere, the ease to get around, the line-up and sound quality. The program was good and probably fairly ambitious given that there was only one stage. I also enjoyed networking opportunity through movers & shakers sessions. Overall, it was an amazing experience. I'm already planning to return next year.”

Stani Goma, Presenter/Producer of Flight 1067 to Africa,

PBS-FM Melbourne

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“Swahili Encounters was a

truly unique experience for Tarabband. We felt a chemistry with the Taarab musicians from Zanzibar from the very first day. The music and instruments blended very well but most of all there was such a good vibe and atmosphere between the musicians. It was a very good choice of the Busara festival to bring together taarab musicians from Zanzibar and Sweden – not all workshops turn out this successful. As musicians in Tarabband we are thankful to have experienced this meeting.”

Gabriel Hermansson, Tarabband

Embracing African Music This year we received in excess of 560 artists’ applications, and the selection committee had the enviable task of listening to all of them! We selected a wide range of artists and genres while still keeping local favourites, such as taarab and ngoma, in the mix. The selection represented a taste of the wide diversity of music of the continent while refusing common stereotypes of what African music is or should be. The bands chosen proved both popular with audiences and inspiring to other artists.

Swahili Encounters The popular artistic collaboration, called Swahili Encounters, made a comeback this year. For three days, musicians from Zanzibar’s Tausi Women’s Taarab group, students and teachers from the Dhow Countries Music Academy (DCMA), and Tarabband (an Egyptian-led, Sweden-based group), rehearsed together in workshops and produced a performance that showcased their new interpretations of popular Zanzibar songs. This collaboration made up the 33rd group in the line-up. Their performance was well received by the audience.

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a . M A I N S T A G E

Diverse 4-day programme This year Sauti za Busara had a very full 4-day programme comprising 32 bands with more than 270 musicians on the main stage. African artists came from all over the continent, as well as from various locations in European cities where some of the musicians are based. One band travelled all the way from Puerto Rico.

True to its vision of being an international platform for East African music, artists from East Africa made up nearly half of the 2014 programme – 15 out of 32 bands. Five of these were from Zanzibar, seven from Tanzania mainland, and one each from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The rest hailed from Ethiopia, Egypt, Malawi, Angola, DRC, South Africa, The Gambia, Senegal, Guinea, Mauritius and Madagascar. The all-star line-up of The Nile Project alone comprised members from Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Kenya.

According to audience feedback surveys, highlights for most people, were OY (Ghana/Switzerland), HajaMadagascar (Madagascar/ Austria), The Nile Project (Nile Basin countries), Sona Jobarteh (Gambia/UK), Tarabband (Egypt/Sweden), Wunmi (Nigeria/USA), Hoko Roro (Tanzania), Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate (USA/Guinea), Jupiter and Okwess International (DRC), Tritonik (Mauritius), Dizu Plaatjies (South Africa) and Kara Sylla Ka (Senegal).

This year we had a higher success rate than usual in recruiting and inviting artists. Most years, at least 6-8 groups who are initially invited do not end up coming to the festival because they are unable to find travel sponsorship, or they do not accept the offered performance fee.

However, this year nearly all of the groups accepted the invitation and were able to secure travel sponsorship, leading to a fuller programme than would be ideal. Therefore, the stage crew were forced to attempt faster “change-over” times between acts, leading to delays in the programme.

Unexpected rain and bad weather also caused delays, and even caused two bands to have to be rescheduled, impacting on the programme and running time of two other days. Selection & Programming The Selection Committee sat for a week, listening to music and discussing the suitability of over 560 applicants. Various criteria were used:

Creativity and originality of music

Are local audiences likely to enjoy it?

Does it add to a diversity of styles?

Balanced representation of groups from Zanzibar, mainland Tanzania, East Africa and the rest of the continent

A good mix of emerging and established groups

Sounds of wisdom – does the music carry a positive message?

Once selected artists were invited, lengthy negotiations began to book and contract bands. Some were not able to source travel sponsorship and eventually did not come. However, all bands that were advertised on posters and in the programme arrived in Zanzibar and performed on stage. There was something for everyone, from Taarab which came to the stage from Zanzibar and also from Sweden via Egypt, to Ghanaian highlife, to storytelling-infused electronica to ngoma, and funk to reggae.

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M A I N S T A G E c o n t i n u e d

“This festival is important because it is an annual event built upon its continuity

and offering a fascinating selection of music.” Audience member

Up-and-coming and Emerging Artists

37% of artists in this year’s programme were emerging bands. These included the upcoming young Tanzanian band, Hoko Roro, which is becoming increasingly popular with each performance, a traditional spirit dance group from the north of Unguja, Pungwa, a young Rwandan singer/guitarist, Moyize, the Kenyan jazz outfit, Ricky na Marafiki, and others.

Additional Shows secured for Artists Sauti za Busara presents visiting artists with a springboard into the East Africa region, presenting opportunities for regional touring and extra shows. This brings additional benefits to artists ensuring a wider audience reach. This year, the Goethe-Institut facilitated an additional show for Ebo Taylor in Dar es Salaam (and sponsored his travel), and Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate performed at a function at the US Embassy, who had supported their travel. Sponsored and facilitated by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, OY conducted a workshop at the Music Mayday School, where participants included students, teachers and artists from Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo. OY also did a public performance at Triniti Bar, before travelling to Zanzibar.

Furthermore, via Busara’s partnership with Casa África (see section 5b), two bands will have the opportunity to perform at 9 festivals in Spain during the summer of 2014. OY was selected, as were Jagwa Music, who were seen on the Busara stage as Kazimoto, a collaborative project between Jagwa Music and The Teichmann Brothers (Germany) on electronics & live remixing. Casa África also began negotiations with The Nile Project with a view to having them tour Spanish festivals in 2015.

There were other festival organisers present, including those from MTN Bushfire (Swaziland), the City of Windhoek, which hosts a jazz festival, Kenya’s Sawa Sawa Festival, Bayimba Festival (Uganda), Ibo Festival (Mozambique), and nine festival directors from festivals in Spain (see Vis a Vis below), and it is very possible that within the next few months other artists will be booked, after being seen at Sauti za Busara.

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Women Artists Two out of four headline artists were bands led by women – Wunmi and Sona Jobarteh. In total, 22% of the bands were female led, including the fabulous Iraqi-born leader of Tarabband, Nadin al Khalidi, and the dynamic Ghanaian leader of OY, Joy Frempong. There was a large representation of female musicians and vocalists in The Nile Project, as well as in the Puerto Rican bomba group, Majestad Negra. The standout band as far as this demographic is concerned was the all-women Zanzibari group, Tausi Women’s Taarab, led by Mariam Hamdani, who talked courageously on-stage about various issues, including taboos like child abuse. Their presence on stage this year was notable for the absence of Bi Kidude, with whom they had always performed. The percentage of female representation fell short of the goal that we were aiming for, however we did not feel comfortable programming women artists just to make up numbers – the quality and integrity of the festival’s programming was of paramount importance. However, it was a triumph having two leading women as headline artists. Incidentally, both artists stand out due to the rarity of women performers in their domains; Sona Jobarteh for being a rare female kora maestro and Wunmi because there are almost no women in Afrobeat.

The festival was very keen to ensure the female artists booked were able to come, and so supported Wunmi’s travel when she failed to secure her band’s travel sponsorship at the last minute. Her value was immeasurable as she was a key component of the Santuri Safari – she contributed to most of the 5 tracks that were produced during the co-creation workshops. She was also a headline artist on the main stage, drawing the audience to her and keeping them riveted; as an artist with a social conscience, she spent time on the streets of Stone Town, talking with and inspiring young people.

b. CARNIVAL PARADE The parade is an entertaining way of attracting people to the Old Fort at the start of the Festival. Due to political tensions there had not been one in 2013. It started with an hour of performances outside of Africa House; there were capoeiristas, stiltwalkers, clowns and acrobats, Mwanandege (umbrella ladies), Kilua dancers, Reki warriors and many children and adults watching the entertainment. The procession made its way along the street in front of the Serena Hotel and continued onto the Old Fort. Along the way many bystanders joined the parade which brought lots of people into the venue.

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b. African Music Film Programme

events to draw audiences or participants. It is a means of encouraging regional artists not featured on the main stage to still have opportunities to perform and participate. This year members of the public could sit in on rehearsals of one of the oldest Taarab groups, Culture Musical Club, at their clubhouse, as well as those of Tausi Women’s Taarab as they prepared for their on-stage festival performance. The ever popular Maulidi ya Homu did a show in the Palace Museum gardens. There were various classes of different drumming styles and dance classes of belly dance & Bollywood. There were Taarab concerts at the Serena Hotel, jazz shows in restaurants around town, a henna art exhibition and a printmaking workshop. The well-loved acrobatic troupe, Safi Theatre, did a surprise performance with a group of German performers, Circus Bombastico. Their impromptu show took place at the Michenzani roundabout, which is slightly out of town, at a major traffic hub, and in an area densely populated by Zanzibari citizens. Busara supported these events with advertising on its website, as well as in dedicated pages of the printed programme.

c. AFRICAN MUSIC FILM PROGRAMME

Complementing the live music on stage, the Amphitheatre was the site for the ever-popular African Music Film Programme. The selection was curated with diversity and novelty in mind, and featured two of the artists who were appearing on the main stage, Friday night’s headliner, Jupiter Bokondji (of Jupiter and Okwess International) and famed Ethiopian dancer, Melaku Belay, who was a guest during Addis Acoustic Project’s set.

The films selected this year showcased a wide array of music and origins. They were:

Jupiter’s Dance (DRC), a good promo for the headline performance the next night of Jupiter & Okwess International.

Rikki & Jagari: The Zamrock Survivors (Zambia), about the exploding Zambian rock scene of the 60s & 70s.

HomeGrown: HipLife in Ghana (Ghana), a documentary about a group’s rise over a period of a decade as they merge hip hop with high-life.

Melaku Belay, Ahun and Samuel Yirga (Ethiopia), three short films made in Addis Ababa, one about a young pianist, Samuel Yirga, while the other two focused on acclaimed dancer, Melaku Belay.

Mama Goema: The Cape Town Beat in Five Movements (South Africa), the story about a sound unique to Cape Town

As Old As My Tongue (Zanzibar), the life and myth of Bi Kidude

The films were well attended. Many films were so popular that the audience asked for them to be rescreened. It was only feasible to show the short films again.

Busara Promotions is grateful for the support of the Goethe-Institut for once again providing their film projector and screen from Dar es Salaam.

d. BUSARA XTRA For a week, before, during and after the festival, Busara Xtra events were taking place all over the town, and even outside it. The whole of Stone Town and, indeed, the whole island, truly comes alive during festival time. Many venues and artists have the opportunity of capitalising on this huge influx of music-loving people, and so create

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e. MOVERS & SHAKERS NETWORKING FORUM In its sixth year, the Movers and Shakers Networking Forum was lauded by all who attended. Taking place in the afternoon of each festival day, it was a gathering that brought together industry professionals, media, festival organisers, donors and sponsors, promoters, artist managers, and musicians from diverse backgrounds and countries. This year’s facilitator, Anitah Mbugua, was invited to the crew after having participated as an intern during last year’s festival as a part of the African Music Festivals Network. Her presence at the festival was itself testament to the value of festivals for building capacities and creative infrastructure in the arts. The forum encouraged people to connect with those allied to their work, to share ideas, to problem-solve and to forge new relationships and rekindle old ones. As in past years, the sessions included introductions, a few formal presentations (lasting approximately 5 – 10 minutes), led by a facilitator and followed by open discussions. These always ended with informal networking. The first day included discussion on the state of African music today. One of the general feelings was that there should be more festivals, especially free ones that took to the streets. This would afford musicians who were ‘hiding’ their talents to have the opportunity to show their skills. It was also felt that Sauti za Busara should involve local artists more on the wider East African scene. The presenters were Silja Fischer (International Music Council, lead partner in the African Music Development Programme) and Juan Martinez (Casa África). The second day tackled the subject of Freedom of Speech, Censorship and Music, with a focus on the Media, presented by Annemette Kirkegaard of the NGO Freemuse, which is dedicated to promoting and protecting artists’ freedom of expression. The importance of forging partnerships was the subject of Day three, with presentations from Mina Girgis (Executive Director of The Nile Project), Gregg Mwendwa (Program Officer at the Hivos Regional Office for East Africa) and Moritz Kasper (Ten Cities Project, Goethe-Institut in Nairobi). The three guests all had partnerships at the root of their respective projects, and the subsequent discussions illustrated how very vital it was for cultural practitioners and organizations to partner with others in order to create win-win benefits for all. The last day was for meeting artists. Those who were still in town, and available for discussions, were Tanzanian guitarist/singer, Samuel Hokororo, and Wunmi, from Nigeria, who was one of the most inspiring contributors. The general consensus was that the Movers & Shakers is a wonderful forum and an invaluable part of Sauti za Busara, from which everyone learns and benefits.

“Movers & Shakers

is a unique opportunity

to connect with other

African music

professionals and

meditate on the state

of our industry.”

Mina Girgis Executive Director

The Nile Project

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f. SANTURI SAFARI This year, Busara Promotions premiered the Santuri Safari, a new project that focuses on the innovative role of the DJ in promoting and sharing music in East Africa.

In partnership with HIVOS, The Santuri Project brought together DJs, producers, and other music industry professionals to kickstart a new movement in electronic music with a strong cultural identity that is rooted in the East Africa region, and tapped into the wealth of musicians brought into Zanzibar by Sauti za Busara. The project incorporated workshops, an after-party and sunset DJ sessions around Stone Town.

A co-creation session took place involving DJs producers, musicians (including festival performers OY, Wunmi, HAJAmadagascar, and the

Teichmann Brothers), and sound engineers. Participants had three days to learn how to record live instrumentation and create DJ-friendly tracks from them, using a variety of technologies and approaches

A business-planning / design thinking session took place in parallel, involving arts curators, managers, festival organisers and other industry professionals, attempting to highlight the issues facing the East African music industry, and provide a framework for a future plan to support and promote it. Feedback from the consultants suggest the material they gathered will be useful in developing a fuller business plan, both for the Santuri Safari and the East African music industry as a whole.

Three DJ sunset sessions took place at venues around town, just before the main stage kicked off. These proved to be hugely popular and were raved about by all who attended them. Ultimately, the

combination of ocean views, stunning sunsets, great music and funky people made for a winning recipe. One of the best aspects was they were streamed live, which received positive responses from viewers online.

There were two after-parties scheduled for the main stage, to take over after the festival programme was over. However, due to the schedule running late, the first one was cancelled. Venue curfews did not allow the music to continue past 3 a.m. Many people were thrilled that the festival ended with an after-party – the Santuri Safari DJs took to the main stage and rocked the house until the venue curfew closed down the party.

“Having a closing party with DJs and together with the public was a great innovation!” Audience member

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a. FESTIVAL CREW: BUILDING CAPACITY

3. THE CREW

The festival crew is made up of many sections, including Artists, Office, Press, Technical, Tickets and Merchandise, and Security. Busara Promotions is proud to retain many crew members from year to year, with a special focus on employing locals, women and youth. This year we attained a 26.4% employment of female crew, higher than any previous year. Furthermore, most of the organization and festival’s top leadership positions were filled by women, including the Sauti za Busara 2014 Festival Manager, Busara Promotions’ Managing Director, the Interim MD (while MD was on maternity leave), the Chief Sound Engineer, the Press Coordinator, and the Ticket & Merchandise team leader. Though many international festivals on a par with Sauti za Busara are staffed by unpaid volunteers, Busara Promotions believes that providing paying work opportunities to locals with a focus on training and skills-building will create sustainability for the festival and organization and lead to better employment opportunities for the respective crew members. For a full list of Sauti za Busara 2014 crew, see Appendix B. The crew this year showed tremendous levels of dedication and hard-work, while being on-call for long hours each day of the festival. Team leaders demonstrated great commitment and team-building ability, motivating their teams, problem-solving, and contributing to the smooth running of the operations of the festival. After the festival, all crew members received graded certificates.

b. TECHNICAL TRAINING & SKILLS BUILDING For the past seven years, the Sauti za Busara festival has provided technical training to regional professionals, working each year to develop existing knowledge through continued training and build capacities for the region. Each year, Busara becomes more sustainable and efficient as the technical crew implements lessons they learned from previous years. Furthermore, the international trainers are often given the opportunity to return so they too become more familiar and comfortable with the trainees and working environment.

Training and skills building were boosted this year, with dedicated funds being provided exclusively for training. New partnerships were also forged with training as the primary focus (See AMDP below).

Training in sound production and lighting design was coordinated by Busara’s Education and Training Coordinator, a position made possible through funding from the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam. For her fourth consecutive year, Gurjit Dhinsa from UK, who works at London’s Southbank Centre, worked with the festival, and conducted several training sessions for the audio team. Through funding from Oslo World Music Festival, Sjur Brinck-Johnsen came to his first Sauti za Busara experience. He held several days of intensive workshops with the lighting team. Unfortunately lights that were purchased did not arrive in time for the festival for him to finish the training that had begun. Regardless, he felt the crew did an admirable job of creating ambience on stage with Busara’s existing lighting system.

For her fourth consecutive year, Gurjit Dhinsa from UK, who works at London’s Southbank Centre, worked with the festival, and conducted several training sessions for the audio team.

Through funding from Oslo World Music Festival, Sjur Brinck-Johnsen came to his first Sauti za Busara experience. He held several days of intensive workshops with the lighting team. Unfortunately lights that were purchased did not arrive in time for the festival for him to finish the training that had begun. Regardless, he felt the crew did an admirable job of creating ambience on stage with Busara’s existing lighting system.

CREW NATIONALITIES

95.4% African: 89.5% Zanzibar and Tanzania

4% from other parts of East Africa 1.9% from South Africa & Congo

4.6% came from Europe and USA

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4. THE AUDIENCE

Sauti za Busara 2014 recorded its highest ticket sales and ticket revenue ever, demonstrating the continued popularity of the festival as East Africa’s biggest and most popular music festival. Nearly 5,000 tickets were sold directly to audiences, with advance sales online contributing to a large percentage of tickets sold. Approximately 500 more tickets were distributed to festival guests, donors and sponsors, volunteers, radio-giveaways, stall holders and accredited media. With crew members and artists and managers included, this brings the estimated festival attendance each day of the festival to around 6,000 people.

More than 60% of the audience were Tanzanian, Zanzibari or East African, reflecting increased support for live and local music among East African residents.

Since the first edition of the festival in 2004, the number of visitors coming to Zanzibar in February has increased steadily, year on year despite the global recession. The Zanzibar Association of Tourism Investors, which tracks visitors to the island by both air and sea port, reported that close to 18,500 visitors came to the island during February 2014, showing a relative stability in tourism numbers, despite a concern in the sector since the previous year.

a. AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS This year an audience survey was conducted by several Kiswahili-speaking crew members, and by a group of five German students, on an internship at Sauti za Busara through the African Music Development Programme. Together they collected a wealth of valuable data on audience demographics and perceptions of the festival, the festival’s impact, as well as audience satisfaction.

c. VENUE, INFRASTRUCTURE & SECURITY The venue production team worked hard to ensure the festival grounds were safe, clean, and welcoming for the audience. Thanks to the support of SMOLE II project and the Zanzibar Water Authority (ZAWA), generators were made available to the festival ensuring a stable power supply for most areas of the venue, including the main stage, press centre, backstage, sound and lighting, vendor stalls, and restaurant.

With further funding from US Embassy, the festival was able to ensure extra security, first aid and fire safety services on-site, and a fire truck hired by Busara outside of the venue. Also, signage was made for the Old Fort’s entrance, exits, and passage-ways. No major injuries or sicknesses were reported.

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AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS continued Both language teams used the same audience survey tool to collect information from a sample of around 600 attendees. The results are summarized below: The audience demographic

was approximately 45%

female and 50% male (nearly

5% declined to fill whether

they were male or female).

One of the aims of the festival

is to have a higher female

attendance rate.

26.02%

18.53%

25.85%

24.65%

4.93%

Fig. 1 Attendees by Gender

Male ZanzibarResidents

Female ZanzibarResidents

Male Non Residents

Female Non residents

Null

1.02% 8.50%

29.08%

34.01%

11.90%

5.78%

4.76% 1.36%

3.57%

Fig. 2 Attendees by Age

Under 16

16-18

19-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

Nearly 72% of festival-goers are aged 16 to 35 years, which means that many younger people are interested in African music. It is part of Busara’s mission to share with local audiences the wealth and scope of music from the continent.

Figure 3 shows the residency status of the survey respondents. Over 66% are from Zanzibar, Tanzania and from other East African countries. It illustrates the important place that Sauti za Busara has in the hearts and minds of East African music lovers, and is an event that is a vital part of the calendar of the region – perhaps because it is one of the few opportunities people have to access such high quality live music.

44.55%

21.76%

28.74%

4.93%

Fig. 3 Audience (Residency)

Zanzibar Residents

Other East Africans

Foreigners

Null

16

-

0200

L… P…

M… T… O…

Fig. 6 Audience Appreciation

AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS continued

As Fig. 4 shows, almost two thirds of respondents were returning festival attendees, demonstrating a dedicated Busara fan base and loyalty to the vision of the festival. The high percentage of returning audiences is also a great indicator of the sustainability of the event and the role it has for people living in Zanzibar and Tanzania (and the region) as an event not to be missed every year for many people. At the same time, fully a third of the audience were new to the festival – also a great achievement of marketing.

64.79%

34.52% 0.68%

Fig. 4 Festival Prior Attendance

Yes

No

b. AUDIENCE PERCEPTION OF THE FESTIVAL

AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS continued

Sauti za Busara is gratified that more than 80% of the respondents felt that the festival was excellent or good, and that less than 5% said it was poor (see Fig. 5). That such a high percentage of attendees appreciated the quality of the festival was testament to the standard of excellence that Busara prides itself on. Fig. 6 shows clearly that the most appreciated things about Sauti za Busara are the line-up and the music. The people and location are also instrumental in the festival’s popularity. Some things audiences liked which fell under the heading of ‘others’ included the variety of music on offer, the venue and stage, the ‘multi-kulti’ of countries of musicians and audience, the number of tourists the festival brought to Zanzibar, the parade and the tribute to Bi Kidude. Most people felt that the festival is important for the following reasons:

Increase in tourism and the benefits for local businesses

Promotion of African music and cultures

Networking and socialising

Hearing new and different artists

Entertainment

That it brings people together Fig. 7 shows the sources of where respondents received their information about the festival. It appears social media does not yet play as large a role in marketing Sauti za Busara as it might for other festivals. A dedicated social media strategy is required to raise the profile of the festival online.

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Fig. 5 Audience Satisfaction

Sauti za BusaraFestival 2014Audience Feedback(Satisfaction)

020406080

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Fig. 6 Audience Appreciation

Sauti za BusaraFestival 2014Audience(Appreciation)

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Online

Social Media

Friends/Family/…

TV

Fig. 7 Audience Information Source

Sauti za Busara2014 FestivalAudienceInformation Source

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5. PARTNERSHIPS Sauti za Busara strives to always be more than ‘just a festival’. It prides itself on being a premium East African

meeting space and networking point, a time on the calendar when people know they can be together with

others eager to participate and celebrate in cultural exchange and dialogue. The following sections report on

various community outreach and partnership projects that the festival supported this year.

a. FESTIVAL RECYCLING

For the second year running, Sauti za Busara 2014 provided recycling services and education in and around the venue by partnering with Sustainable East Africa (SEA), a Zanzibari NGO supporting local organisations to develop sustainable initiatives and raise environmental awareness, under the motto ‘Sharing Sustainable Solutions’.

Together with its partners Manispaa Jamii Vikokotoni, The Cultural Arts Centre Zanzibar, The Prospective Learning and Charitable Institution, SEA worked to keep the festival site clean, with all

recyclable waste separated by providing well positioned recycling trolleys in the venue. At their stall were showcased examples of up-cycled arts and crafts made from recycled waste by creative local partners, and the project team demonstrated how the products are made. They also provided festival-goers with information on sustainable agriculture, community clean-up activities, environmental education and outreach campaigns, and information on how to make sustainable choices in Zanzibar. A few informative slides were inserted during the Film Programme in the Amphitheatre, to share messages relevant to local people, for example, that plastic kills fish.

b. AFRICAN MUSIC FESTIVALS NETWORK Thanks to a grant in partnership with the African Music Festivals Networks (AMFN), through the ‘Music on the Move’ programme, Busara was able to better foster relations with artists from the neighbouring EAC countries. The partner festivals, Bayimba (Uganda), Sawa Sawa (Kenya) and Kigali Up! (Rwanda) assisted Busara by suggesting possible groups, providing contact details and helping to contract the specific artists. The grant provided for logistical support for Ricky na Marafiki (Kenya), Joel Sebunjo (Uganda) and Moyise (Rwanda), and their bands to participate at the festival.

“We've had a busy week making use of the material which MJV collected during Busara. It's awesome what we've managed to do with some of the plastic we collected at the festival. 400 of

the water bottles were packed with dry soil by hand and used to build the outer structure of a Keyhole Garden which the Prospective Learning and Charitable Institution in Melitano, Fuoni, will

be using to feed their pupils and grow some extra crops to sell at market.”

Will Roberts, SEA staff member

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c. VIS A VIS & CASA ÁFRICA Vis a Vis is a professional meeting organised by Casa África (a public consortium that serves Spain’s foreign policy) to bring African music to Spanish audiences. They would select an African city (past ones have included Dakar, Addis Ababa and Johannesburg), take applications, host a concert or two-day mini-festival, and from those select 2 bands that would tour the major festivals in Spain in the summer. Due to budgetary constraints they were not able to do it this year in the same way and proposed that they host it within the framework of Sauti za Busara.

This was a great opportunity for Sauti za Busara as it brought 9 Spanish festival directors and 3 major Spanish media to Sauti za Busara 2014, including journalists from El Pais, the largest newspaper in Spain. The subsequent media exposure and visibility of Sauti za Busara in Spain is invaluable. They requested professional meetings with many artists, and Busara facilitated these interactions.

At the end they selected two bands (out of a short list of 15): OY, an innovative genre-busting duo, who were loved by Busara audiences for their storytelling and live electronica; and the foremost exponent of mchiriku,

Tanzanian band, Jagwa Music, who had been performing in a different constellation – with the Teichmann Brothers – called Kazimoto. These two bands will perform at nine Spanish festivals in the summer of 2014. Furthermore, an unprecedented third band was selected to play the Spanish festival circuit in 2015. Due to the size and complexity of The Nile Project, it will take a lot more coordination and logistics to get them to tour. Also, separate negotiations are taking place to book Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate.

d. HIVOS & SANTURI SAFARI Hivos is a long-standing sponsor and partner of Busara

Promotions. We were all excited when Hivos proposed a

new project, which eventually came to be known as the

Santuri Project. The Santuri Safari that was held during

Sauti za Busara 2014 was the first phase of this project.

To achieve the best results for the stated aims around

the innovative role of the DJ in promoting and sharing

music in East Africa, the project will tour to other

festivals in the region during the course of the year.

Already in its short incarnation, it was highly popular and

has achieved near-legendary status. The formula worked

so well that Hivos duplicated it at Doadoa at Jinja,

Uganda. There are also plans to take it to Bayimba in

Kampala in September.

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e. OSLO WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL Busara Promotions has been developing a partnership with the Oslo World Music Festival for the past two years. This year the partnership was realised in a few ways. Firstly, a 3-way partnership between Sauti za Busara, Oslo World Music Festival, and Beirut and Beyond International Music Festival (BBIMF), was developed in order to strengthen North-South-South collaborations and networking. In keeping with one of Busara Promotions’ key result areas, Busara facilitated the participation of Jagwa Music, a Tanzanian band to perform in Lebanon, a

ground-breaking performance which festival organisers posit was one of the first times an East African group had performed in a music festival in Beirut in recent times.

Another way that the partnership was strengthened was by a sponsorship related specifically to improving lighting infrastructure of Sauti za Busara. It made provision for the Lighting Designer of OWMF to further professionalise the lighting team of Sauti za Busara. It also included the purchase of new lights (and necessary peripherals) and a lighting mixer. Busara is currently the owner of a professional-class lighting rig which, together with crew, will be rented out as a new stream of income generation.

The AMDP also brought 5 German students who were studying music-related subjects. They were present for a week, which was not long enough for them to properly integrate into the workings of the festival preparations.

Also, they all had thesis topics that they were focusing on, which meant that their own needs came first, instead of the tasks assigned them for the festival. However, they did conduct the English version of the audience surveys.

f. AFRICAN MUSIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME A new partnership this year came through the African Music Development Programme (AMDP), a project of the International Music Council supported by funding from the European Union. Its aim is to foster training and skills transfer amongst festival workers. A sponsorship put in place the infrastructure necessary for bringing two professionals from other African festivals. It also brought two students from African universities who were studying music-related subjects.

These four trainees came to Zanzibar for a 6-week training placement. One trainee was an artist assistant from Feux de Brazza in Brazzaville; one was a founder of Summer Sundaze from South Africa, and there was one student each from the Technical University of Kenya and Makerere University in Uganda. Three of the four trainees were female.

All were based at the Busara office and contributed to different aspects of festival planning. They rotated amongst different departments to get a fuller understanding of how the festival works. Twice weekly meetings were conducted by the management trainer and Training Coordinator, to keep trainees updated, give them tasks for the new week and to gauge how they were feeling and what challenges they might be experiencing – something they all found very valuable. They also got to choose which festival departments they would work in.

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6. PRESS & MEDIA a. ADVANCE PUBLICITY & PROMOTION

In the months leading up to Sauti za Busara 2014, Busara Promotions put into motion a marketing strategy that combined traditional media such as newspapers, radio, and TV, with innovative social media strategies and distribution of a variety of internally-designed promotional materials. Busara also hired a full-time Press Coordinator in November to manage all aspects of press and promotions for the 2014 festival.

Also, a regional event, Sauti Zetu, was held in Nungwi, and local bands were invited to perform – one band, Pungwa, was selected and performed on the main stage during the festival. Taking the festival to Nungwi, so to speak, increased its visibility and presence in the north of the island.

Busara secured in-kind media partnerships with Times Radio FM (Dar es Salaam), Radio France International-Swahili (Dar es Salaam), and Pride FM Radio (Mtwara), continuing relationships from the 10th edition of the festival in 2013. First time partnerships were secured with Hits FM Radio (Zanzibar) and Zanzibar Cable Television, giving Sauti za Busara advance TV and Radio ads for a full month running up to the festival. The radio promo also included interviews with artists and organizers.

The promotional materials produced were:

50,000 postcards distributed locally, regionally and internationally at many events, partner festivals, conferences, hotels, restaurants, curio shops, etc.

4,000 line-up posters distributed in East Africa, with the highest concentration in Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania

3,000 line-up flyers were distributed at venues and events in Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and Nairobi

3,000 festival souvenir programmes sold during the festival and also distributed at other festivals, events and locations throughout the year, including industry markets like Womex

To take advance publicity of the festival a notch up, for the first time in its history, Sauti za Busara held a preview event in Dar es Salaam (at Triniti Bar). The main motivation was to increase Sauti za Busara’s profile on the mainland, and entice people to come to Zanzibar in February. More than 300 members of the public bought tickets to the event. Many of Busara Promotions’ partners based on the mainland supported the event, including the Swiss Ambassador, the Cultural Attaché of the US Embassy, the Director of the Goethe-Institut, the Director of Alliance Francaise, and a representative of the German Embassy.

The line-up featured two bands that were scheduled to perform at the 2014 festival, the young, up-and-coming band, Hoko Roro, and mchiriku band, Seven Survivor. The third band, Msafiri Zawose, though not on the bill for the 2014 festival, was a Busara favourite from two previous festival editions, and was there launching his new album, Mbotela. The line-up was rounded off by DJ Davey, a Dar-based DJ who specializes in Afro-funk and house beats.

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b. BUSARA WEBSITE The Busara website www.busaramusic.org receives millions of hits throughout the year, including more than 1.5 million visitors to the website in January and more than 1.1m in February 2014.

The website contains a wealth of information for festival audiences, and is a valuable resource for African music lovers worldwide, who can access data throughout the year on more than 380 African artists who have performed on the Busara stage over the years.

The festival programme was available for download, as well as listings for Busara Xtra events taking place around town. Members of the media could find information packs on the website.

c. NEWSLETTERS & PRESS RELEASES

Six e-newsletters were circulated globally in English, Kiswahili, and French to over 67,000 subscribers.

All of the newsletters can be viewed here. Three press releases were issued to local and international media via Busara’s database. These introduced the festival line-up, gave biographical information on headline artists, the Santuri Safari project, and partnerships with AMDP and Vis a Vis. You can read all of the press releases here.

d. PRESS CONFERENCES Two festival press conferences were held before Sauti za Busara, the first was held on the 27th of January 2014 at the Southern Sun in Dar es Salaam, and the other on the 12th of February – the day before the start of the festival – at the Chavda Hotel in Stone Town, Zanzibar. Approximately 120 journalists from television, radio, print, and online media houses attended these events.

The press conferences gave the organisers a chance to announce the line-up for the festival, answer questions from journalists, and

share festival materials and resources with the press. The press kits given to journalists included CD and DVD compilations of festival artists, electronic copies of press releases, festival artists’ photos and biographies, logos and graphics, donors and sponsors information, and more. A Festival Press Resource Pack with photos and information was also available on the website here.

Both press conferences ended with performances by festival artists. In Dar es Salaam, three Tanzanian artists took turns singing and playing guitar. The media lapped up the impromptu performances by Jhikoman, Ashimba and Hoko Roro. In Zanzibar, HajaMadagascar sang while playing a traditional instrument from his homeland.

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e. PRESS AND THE FESTIVAL

During the festival, accredited members of the press were provided with the following:

Access to the Press Pit for AV journalists to photograph and shoot from prime vantage points in front of the stage

Press liaison and facilitation of artist interviews

Access to Movers and Shakers networking forum

Access to Press Center with work stations, wifi, and interview setup.

There were a good number of international journalists from different countries including Norway, UAE, Ireland, Austria, Finland and Australia. Journalists from the continent came from Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, for example, Mashariki Mix (Kenya), BBC Service (Dar es Salaam), The Fest Gurus (Zimbabwe and Zambia), and a blogger from Kenya.

f. FESTIVAL COVERAGE

The coverage of the festival has been steadily coming in. CNN named it in a list of 7 African festivals that must be seen. And once again it made Songlines’ list of 25 best international festivals. Dar es Salaam-based newspapers, The Citizen and the Daily News also covered the festival. For a full list of media coverage, go to http://www.busaramusic.org/press/2014/

“As a Radio presenter I was impressed by how well the Media Centre worked. As a regular festivalgoer, it's the best that I have seen in terms of ease of access to artists.”

Stani Goma, Presenter/ Producer of

Flight 1067 to Africa, PBS-FM Melbourne

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7. FUNDRAISING AND INCOME GENERATION From being wholly reliant on donor money when the festival was founded, Busara has managed to diversify its income sources in order to increase its sustainability. Now, the festival is supported in nearly equal parts by international donors like embassies and foundations, commercial sponsors, in-kind support from many local Zanzibari businesses, and self-generated income through ticket and merchandise sales and stall rentals within the festival venue. Every donor and sponsor of Sauti za Busara is acknowledged with visibility in thanks for their contributions to making the festival possible. The fundraising and marketing team has developed sponsorship materials to help potential donors and sponsors understand Busara’s mission and vision and the benefits of supporting the event. However, fundraising proves to be a challenge every year, and this year was no different. There was little support from major corporates, despite great benefits for relatively small investment. Busara addressed the shortfall in corporate sponsorship by developing self-generated revenue activities. This year, a record number of advance ticket sales were made online via 3G Pay, a website that offers various payment and currency options. Door ticket sales also remained strong, and contributed to the 46.5% increase on income from tickets sold in 2013. A new and exciting range of merchandise was also available from Busara’s offices and the Festival Shop, including locally-sourced and ethically-made Tanzanian cotton T-shirts in a variety of styles and colours, caps, programmes, books, DVDs, CDs, and canvas bags. Income was also generated by selling stall space to vendors, filming permits to media houses, and advertising space in festival programmes and online. Another unexpected means of income generation turned out to be The ‘Dar Special’ preview event, which was executed without any sponsorship whatsoever, and still managed to generate some income. It proved conclusively that Busara could take its ‘sounds of wisdom’ and programming savvy to the mainland, run events throughout the year, and ultimately become self-sustainable.

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8. THANK YOU

We look forward to seeing you again next year…

We look forward to seeing you again next year…

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THANK YOU

Report written & designed by Rhoda Isaacs, Sauti za Busara 2014 Festival Manager