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My Favorite Things Tanzania
1. Music: Opt for Taarab, the Arabic style from Zanzibar, start here. Bongo Flava: Swahili Rap from Tanzania is above average for its genre. By the way, the Rough Guide Tanzania music CD is a bit lame.
Then there is Freddie Mercury, who was born in Zanzibar. Right now I'd rate "Killer Queen" and the "Bicycle/Fat Bottomed Girls" medley as my favorites. The Manichean element (Mercury's parents were Parsees) is evident in "Bohemian Rhapsody," among other songs. Queen remains underrated, and I never tire of listening.
2. Cinema: This movie comes recommended, I've never seen it. Darwin's Nightmare is set in the country, I haven't seen it.
3. Film, set in: Hatari!, with John Wayne, isn't bad in a jokey sort of way. It is, after all, directed by Howard Hawks. Hatari, by the way, means "danger" in Swahili.
4. Sculpture: Makonde is the dominant style. Try this older one.
5. Painting: The best-known naive style is Tingatinga. Here is one of the better pieces. It doesn't compare to Haiti. Here is more. The leading Tanzanian naive painter was -- can you guess? -- E.S. Tingatinga.
6. Fiction? Ask me again once I've learned Swahili.
The bottom line: Freddy is long gone, and they play Congolese "lingala" music in the clubs, so it's culturally a little dull here; in any case I am working on a micro-credit project with Karol Boudreaux.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on May 14, 2007 at 05:10 AM in The Arts | Permalink
Comments
how about the food?
Posted by: The Tsunami at May 14, 2007 3:07:23 PM
In the case that you're uncertain as to what, "Lingala," refers to, which your use of quotation marks suggests, though I might be presumptuous in guessing so, Lingala is a Bantu language and growing lingua franca in Congo.
I go to the bother of noting that because I've spent the last semester describing Lingala.
I am also curious as to the local cuisine. I know little of Africa's culinary tradition.
Posted by: Paludicola at May 15, 2007 2:11:40 AM
Posted by: 鑽石 at Apr 2, 2008 8:24:00 PM
