Bagamoyo is a town on the East shore of Tanzania, an hour car ride from Dar es Salaam and some 3 hours by ferry from the island of Zanzibar. The group arrived here on Monday, 12th July evening, and used Tuesday for an extensive walk along the beach and through the Old Town of Bagamoyo.

According to Tanzanians and to travellers alike, Bagamoyo is completely different than Zanzibar and other places in the country, a place hard to describe for the burdens of history and the hardship of contemporary life create quite a special atmosphere. In the late 18th century Bagamoyo was established as a hub for trading ivory and slaves, with people from the hinterland being transported to Bagamoyo and from here to their destinations further on. In the 19th century the Germans chose Bagamoyo to be the capital of their colony, Deutsch-Ostafrika, a plan which was dismissed after some years. The remnants of the administrative buildings, a school, a post office and the “Boma” headquarter are nowadays material ruins of a colonial utopia.

It may sound paradox that in this environment one of Tanzania’s most prestigious art schools including a renowned concert and theater hall are situated. TaSUBa theatre hosts weekly events, including film screenings and concerts (http://tasubatheatre.weebly.com), numerous cultural events, but never before it was played by an Austrian band.

Posing in front of the TaSUBa announcement

Windhund on stage at TaSUBa, Bagamoyo

The Windhund’s concert on Tuesday, 13th July, was well prepared and accompanied by an excellent sound engineer named Justin – thanks again! Even though attendance was poor at the very beginning, more and more people kept flocking in, making this one of the most rewarding Windhund appearances of the tour.

Concert excerpt: bagamoyo_instrumental (mp3, 1′35”)

The Windhund (Karl Ritter, Melissa Coleman and Otto Lechner) on stage...

... joined by the Zumari horn musicians Siga and Sekembuke from Tanzania

One of the finest passages was Anne Bennent’s recital of the poem “She”, written by the Zanzibar based artist Dismas Sekibaha. Listen in:

bagamoyo_recital (mp3, 4 minutes)