East Africa, c. 1000 CE to the present: Music and Video Recordings

Music and Video

  • At the court of the Mwami, Ruanda : 1952 : Tutsi, Hutu, Twa. Sound recording. Utrecht, the Netherlands : SWP Records ; Grahamstown, South Africa : International Library of African Music, p1998.

  • Columbia University Libraries -- Online Image, Sound & Video Collections -and- Guides to Africa-Related Film, Sound, & Video

    • Alexander Street Music Online: Contemporary World Music. (Alexander Street Press, USA) Columbia faculty and students only

    • Alexander Street Music Online: Jazz Music Library. (Alexandre, VA) Columbia faculty and students only.
      "A collection of jazz recordings which covers thousands of artists, ensembles, albums, and genres, from all over the world, from the beginnings of jazz to today."

    • Alexander Street Streaming Film Platform. (Alexandria, VA) Columbia faculty and students only.
      Search for a film --by subject or title-- in the archive of films distributed online by Alexander Street Press.

    • Anthropology Collection (Alexander Street Press, USA) Columbia faculty and students only
      Search in Ethnographic Video Online and Ethnographic Sound Archives Online (includes: Hugh Tracey Fieldwork Collection and the Sound of Africa series. [1920-1970].)

    • ARTstor ITHAKA. (New York) Columbia faculty and students only.
      "A searchable database of digital images and associated catalog data...ARTstor covers many time periods and cultures, and documents the fields of architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design, anthropology, ethnographic and women's studies, as well as many other forms of visual culture. Users can search, view, download and organize images."

    • Docuseek2 (Alexander Street Press, USA) Columbia faculty and students only

    • Ethnomusicology: global field recordings. (Adam Matthew Digital, UK, 2019-) Columbia faculty and students only.
      "...covers a broad range of fields of study including Uganda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, Benin, Morocco and more. Collections within this region include Klaus Wachamann's recordings from Uganda, Larry Dennis Godsey collection from Ghana and Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje's Music of Africa collection."

    • Filmakers Library Online (Alexander Street Press, USA) Columbia faculty and students only

    • Films on Demand -- World Cinema Video Collection Columbia faculty and students only

    • Film & Videos on Africa on the Internet

    • 2019 Guide to Videos at Columbia--Central Africa -and- Eastern Africa (New York)
      --Search CLIO--Catalog by title, country, or subject for all current holdings

    • The HistoryMakers (Chicago, Illinois) Columbia faculty and students only
      "...a video oral history archive...dedicated to preserving African American history...education, music, law, the arts, science, technology, media, medicine, entertainment, fashion & beauty, business, the military, politics and sports,"

    • kweliTV (Brooklyn, New York) Barnard and Columbia faculty and students only
      "kweliTV celebrates global Black stories and amplifies Black storytellers from North America, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and Australia."

    • Music & Dance of Africa on the Internet

    • Naxos Music Library: Jazz. (Hong Kong ; Franklin, TN : Naxos Digital Services) Columbia faculty and students only.
      "Includes thousands of titles online of the Fantasy catalogue and Naxos Jazz. Works may be searched by featured artist(s), disc / song title and catalogue number."

    • Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries: Africa. (Washington, DC) Columbia faculty and students only.

  • The day I will never forget. Channel Four Television Corporation ; Women Make Movies in association with HBO/Cinemax Documentary Films ; a film by Kim Longinotto. New York, N.Y. : Dist. by Women Make Movies, 2002. [On female genital mutilation or cutting]

  • Diamonds in the rough: a Ugandan hip hop revolution. A Subterranean Network production ; produced by Jim Thompson, Matthew Forrest, Andrea Carrano ; written & edited by Brett Mazurek, Matthew Forrest ; directed by Brett Mazurek. New York : H2O Newsreel c/o Third World Newsreel, 2009.

  • East Africa : ceremonial & folk music.. New York, NY : Nonesuch, 2002, c1975.

  • Enkishon: the Maasai child in Kenya . Jacaranda Designs & Sambaza Productions ; director, Jane Murago-Munene. Nairobi : Jacaranda Designs : Sambaza Productions ; Glenwood Springs, CO : distributed by Media for Development International, [2010?]

  • Gabbay, Alex, dir. Edge of Islam. Producer; Robin Denselow ; music, Taraab Music, Al Noor Sunny, 8 Party Band ; cinematography and editing, Alex Gabbay .(Oley, PA : distributed by Bullfrog Films; produced by Television Trust for the Environment and the British Broadcasting Company, 2008)
    25 minutes in length ; in English ; about three teenage boys and the tourist trade in Lamu, Kenya.
    -- See: Streaming version (Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press)

  • Golden Sounds Band. Swahili rumba. NAXOS music library ; Streaming audio.
    -- [Hong Kong] : Naxos Music Library, [2004]
    Performers: Twahir Mohamed, saxophone, leader ; Miraji Shakashia, Rashidi Matawa, guitar ; Ramadhani Issa, keyboards ; Mwinjuma Muumini, Rashidi Mwenzingo, Tindika Umba, Farida Mahfudh, vocal ; Juma Iddi Mikulandi, drums ; Msichoke Kombo, bass ; Zena Mahfudh, dancer.
     
  • Kenyan songs and strings: 1950 & 1952 Kenya : Luo, Luhya, Kipsigis, Kikuyu, Nandi, Swahili, Wanga, Giriama.. Sound recording. Grahamstown, South Africa : SWP Records, p2006.

  • Lorang's way: a Turkana man. Produced and directed by David and Judith MacDougall. Berkeley, CA : Berkeley Media LLC, [2004]. Originally released in 1977.

  • Makers of a nation: the men and women in Kenya's history. Written and directed by Hilary Ng'weno. [Nairobi : NTV, 2010]
  • The making of a nation: a political history of Kenya. A Nation Media Group/Hilary Ng'weno co-production ; written and directed by Hilary Ng'weno. Nairobi : Nation Media Group, c2007.

  • Massai: les guerriers de la pluie. Masai: the rain warriors. Richard Grandpierre et Stéphane Parthenay présentent ; une coproduction Eskwad, Mordicus Productions, Exception Wild Bunch ; en association avec StudioCanal, Cofimage 14 et Cofimage 15 ; avec la particpation de Canal+ ; scénario, Olivier Dazat et Pascal Plisson ; adaptation et dialogues, Olivier Dazat ; produit par Richard Grandpierre et Stéphane Parthenay ; un film de Pascal Plisson. New York, NY : ArtMattan Productions ; Chicago, IL : Distributed by Facets Video, [2007?]
    --See also: Films on Demand streaming video

  • Masai women. Granada Colour Production ; produced and directed by Chris Curling. Disappearing world. [London] : Granada Television International : [distributed by] Shanachie Entertainment Corp., 2003.

  • Music from Tanzania and Zanzibar. 3 . Sound recording. Stockholm, Sweden : Caprice Records, 1997. (1 sound disc : digital) [Rashid Abdullah, principal lead singer ; Islim Ali, drum leader ; Kilimani Muslim School students, vocals, drums ; Masud Hussein Mfaome, director.]
     
  • Music of the Waswahili of Lamu, Kenya. 3 vols.. Collected [and annotated] by Alan W. Boyd. Online audio resource.
    -- [New York] : Folkways Records, 1985.
    One booklet of program notes (15 p.); principally Islamic music and secular traditional dance music; sung in Swahili. Field recordings made 1976-1977 in Lamu, Kenya.
     
  • Poetry in motion: 100 years of Zanzibar's Nadi Ikhwan Safaa. Directed by Ron Mulvihill ; produced by: Kelly Askew & Werner Graebner in association with Jahazi Media & Gris-Gris Films, [2016].
    -- [Germany]; Gris-Gris Films and Jahazi Media, 2011. About 70 minutes in length ; DVD.
    --See also: Promotional short (via YouTube.com) About 3 minutes in length
    --Plus: Jahazi Media
     
  • Retracing the Benga rhythm. Videorecording. Ketebul Music presents ; [directed by Dimitri Croella] ; cameras by Patrick Ondick.
    -- Nairobi : Ketebul Music, c2008.
    About 108 minutes in length ; DVD
    Documentary film tracing the history and evolution of "Benga," a Kenyan music style that originated on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya in the early 60's and went on to become the most popular music in Kenya.
     
  • Retracing Kenya's songs of protest : music as a force for change in Kenya: 1963-2013. Sound recording; title on accompanying booklet: Retracing Kenya's songs of protest : the social and political revolution in Kenya. Nairobi, Kenya : Ketebul Music, [2013].

  • Royal Court music from Uganda : 1950 & 1952, Uganda : Ganda, Nyoro, Ankole. Sound recording. Utrecht : Stichting Sharp Wood Productions, p1998.

  • Saikati. K.I.M.C. Film Training Dept. ; screenplay, Anne G. Mungai ; producer/director, Anne G. Mungai. Kenya : Joyana Films ; Glenwood Springs, CO : distributed by Media for Development Int'l, [2010?].[Maasai girl runs away from village to big city and grows up.]

  • Saikati: the Enkabaani. Sambaza Productions in conjunction with K.I.M.C. ; produced by Catherine W. Muigai ; written and directed by Anne G. Mungai. Glenwood Springs, CO : Distributed by Media for Development Int'l, [2010?]. [Sequel to: "Saikati"]

  • Songs the Swahili sing: classics from the Kenya coast. Sound recording. Tivoli, N.Y. : Original Music [198-?] (1 sound disc : 33 1/3 rpm ; 12 in.) [Program notes by John Storm Robert in English on container.]
     
  • The Swahili beat. Videorecording. RafIki Productions ; Pro Video Productions, Inc. ; a film by Kenny Mann ; camera, Kenny Mann ; edited by Perry Finkelstein ; Tarab music, Makame Faki, music, Renee Lamira [et al.].
    -- Watertown, MA : Documentary Educational Resources, [2008]
    About 28 minutes in length ; DVD
    "The Swahili beat is an upbeat look at the remarkable history of the Swahili people of Kenya and Tanzania's East African coast. Packed with the music and dance of its indigenous peoples, the film takes viewers along the coast from the fabled island of Lamu to Zanzibar, Mombasa, Kilwa, Bagamoyo and Dar es Salaam, tracing the development of the Swahili culture through the intermarriage of Arab settlers, arriving from Oman in the 8th century, with local Africans. The resulting Islamic hybrid culture cemented economic and social stability."
    --See also: Streaming version
     
  • Taarab, an ocean of melodies. Videorecording. Tomas Films in collaboration with Acacia Entertainment ; produced & directed by Abdulkadir Ahmed Said, Bridget Thompson ; edited by Ashley Smith, Rignold Haywood.
    -- South Africa : Tomas Films ; Mauritius : Acacia Entertainment, [2005].
    About 52 minutes in length ; DVD, PAL ; in English and Swahili, with English subtitles.
     
  • Taking root: the vision of Wangari Maathai. A film by Lisa Merton and Alan Dater ; Malboro productions. [Harriman, NY] : New Day Films, [2008]

  • War dance. Shine Global presents ; in association with Rogues Harbor Studios ; a Fine Films production ; directed by Sean Fine & Andrea Nix Fine ; producer, Albie Hecht. [New York, N.Y.] : Thinkfilm, LLC ; Chatsworth, CA : distributed by Image Entertainment, c2008. [Acholi refugee children participate in national music festival.]

  • Who's afraid of Ngugi? K'a-Yéléma Productions presents a film by Manthia Diawara ; written and directed by Manthia Diawara ; produced by Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda. New York : Third World Newsreel, c2006.

  • Zanzibar : music of celebration. Contemporary world music. London : Topic Records, 2000, p1989. Streaming version. [Taarab and maulidi music ; recorded at various locations in Zanzibar, June 4, 1989-May 10, 1990.]

  • Zanzibara. 1 : [1905-2005, Cent ans de taarab à Zanzibar = A hundred years of taarab in Zanzibar]
    -- Paris : Buda Musique : Distribution, Socadisc, [2005] . 1 sound disc.
    Notes: Principally based on 1920-1980 archival recordings, to celebrate the centenary of Zanzibar's oldest music club. Program notes in French and English, and lyrics in French and English translations. Recorded 2004-2005, Zanzibar and Dubai.
    • Last Updated: Nov 1, 2025 4:09 PM
    • URL: https://guides.library.columbia.edu/History-East-Africa-Swahili-Coast
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