#BlackFriday #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #MusicFromTheMotherland #diaspora @BlackMastodon I've been to three East African countries in my travels, but unlike West Africa, I don’t know the music on the other side of the continent. I saw a documentary recently on Zanzibar and it featured a music called "Taarab," which was created in the 1880’s. It blends Omani, Indian, and African cultures together. Thought to be dying old as “old people’s” music, it seems to be making a comeback. ½
#BlackFriday #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #MusicFromTheMotherland @BlackMastodon The Dhow Countries Music Academy is teaching young people to play the music and it is often accompanied by Swahili poetry. The instruments are an accordion (!), a violin, or a string-like instrument similar to a zither. You can definitely hear the Arab influence in it. The singer has a great voice. https://youtu.be/VDBF3LxKzGA
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@fulanigirl @BlackMastodon
This is wonderful! I wish I knew more
It can be tricky to use an #accordion with anything but a western 12 tone scale
There’s ways though to retune accordion reeds to play 1/4 tones and other scales 
But it’s a delicate art, more risky for the instrument than retuning piano strings for instance 
But careful retuning made the accordion popular in Egyptian film music and in other parts of North Africa through the 1940s–1960s I think
#AccordionHistorian