02 · GALLERY
Five frames.
The festival lives in the seam between the ocean and the medina. By day, the call to prayer threads through narrow coral-stone lanes; by night, the Old Fort ramparts shake with kora, oud and live drum kits. The audience is half local, half travellers in damp linen, eating chapati from the Forodhani night market. The breeze off the Indian Ocean is warm and salty and smells faintly of clove.
Pair it with a dhow boat sundowner from Forodhani jetty. Fringe events spill into hotel rooftops along Kenyatta Road.
The Swahili coast's most credible music gathering, in a city that is itself a soundscape.
Second weekend of February. Four nights inside the Old Fort (Ngome Kongwe) in Stone Town. The coral-stone walls hold the day's heat and release it into the evening sessions. Avoid the rainy months (March, April) when the courtyard floods.
Annual, four nights mid-February. Main programme 19:00 to 00:00 each night. Day programme of workshops and acoustic sessions 14:00 to 18:00. Stage in the Old Fort, food market on the side.
Fly Zanzibar (ZNZ) directly or via Dar es Salaam. From Stone Town centre walk to the Old Fort on Mizingani Road, five minutes. Festival shuttle from Stone Town hotels. The Old Fort is the most photographed building in Stone Town, impossible to miss.