Remembering Bi Kidude, Zanzibar’s Queen of Music

The World

This month the ancient port city of Zanzibar in Tanzania, Africa, has been mourning the death of one of its great musical stars.

No one knows exactly how old the singer and drummer Bi Kidude was when she died- some say over 100 — but she left a unique musical legacy which fused African and Arabic culture.

Rita Ray, the associate producer of “As Old As My Tongue”- an award-winning documentary about the life of Bi Kidude, has this remembrance.

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