Zuhura Said Khamis
Premium memorialLovingly known as “Bi Zuhura”
15 September 1944 — 12 December 2023 · aged 79
Taarab voice of Stone Town who sang through weddings, monsoons and half a century
Zanzibar City, Tanzania Born in Mkunazini, Stone Town, Zanzibar Resting at Mwanakwerekwe cemetery, ZanzibarAbout Zuhura
At weddings in Stone Town, the moment the oud tuned up, the older women would fold their kanga on their laps and murmur, 'Zuhura is here.' For fifty years the voice of Bi Zuhura Said Khamis carried across courtyards, rooftops and the quiet harbour of Zanzibar: low and smoky at the start of a song, then rising, slowly and without apology, until the whole room sighed together.
She was born in 1944 in Stone Town, the daughter of a clove trader and a seamstress, and grew up in a house in Mkunazini where the neighbours' radios competed with the call to prayer. She sang her first public taarab at fourteen, at a cousin's wedding, and was invited to join the Culture Musical Club's chorus in 1962. By 1970 she was its lead singer, and she stayed for thirty-five years, performing the poetry of longing, jealousy and forgiveness in the polished Swahili of the coast. She wrote many of her own verses, often late at night, and recorded for Radio Tanzania Zanzibar until the cassette era made her a star in Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Muscat and beyond.
She married Hamad Juma, a dhow captain, in 1968, and for thirty-one years waited for him through every monsoon. She collected kanga, and could say things with them that she would not say aloud: one with a proverb for a rival, another for a bride, another for a friend who needed mending. Her kitchen smelled of pilau with cardamom and cloves, and no visitor left without a piece of sweet halua. From 2005 she taught taarab to girls of the neighbourhood, in her own courtyard, for nothing.
Bi Zuhura died peacefully in her sleep in December 2023, after the dawn prayer, aged seventy-nine. She leaves four children, eleven grandchildren, and a voice that Zanzibar will keep singing.
“Sing it as if the sea is listening, and it will answer.”
- Faith
- Muslim
- Place of birth
- Mkunazini, Stone Town, Zanzibar
- Resting place
- Mwanakwerekwe cemetery, Zanzibar
- Passed away
- 12 December 2023, Zanzibar City
Janazah prayer
Wednesday, 13 December 2023 at 08:00 UTC
Add to calendarMemorial fund
Bi Zuhura taarab classes fund
Keep Bi Zuhura's free taarab classes for girls in Mkunazini going: instruments, a teacher's stipend and a rehearsal space.
$2,128 raised of $3,500
61%20 recent contributions
- VR
Valentina Ruiz gave $28.50 · 2y ago
- AN
Anonymous gave $95 · 2y ago
“God comfort you all.”
- MO
Mark Odongo gave $19 · 2y ago
- AF
Alan Fortuin gave $95 · 2y ago
“In honour of a great man.”
- HG
Hugh Gallagher gave $28.50 · 2y ago
Life journey
Qur'anic school and Swahili poetry
Madrasa, Mkunazini1950 – 1958 · Stone Town, Zanzibar
Learned recitation and the classical verse forms she would later set to music.
Chorus singer
Culture Musical Club1962 – 1969 · Zanzibar
Joined at eighteen and learned the craft from the older singers.
Married Hamad Juma
1968 – 1999 · Zanzibar
A dhow captain who sailed home to her every monsoon until 1999.
Lead singer
Culture Musical Club1970 – 2005 · Zanzibar
Performed at thousands of weddings and festivals across the coast.
Recording artist
Radio Tanzania Zanzibar1975 – 1995 · Zanzibar
Her cassettes were played from Mombasa to Muscat.
Teacher of taarab to girls
Courtyard classes, Mkunazini2005 – 2023 · Stone Town, Zanzibar
Taught free taarab lessons to over two hundred girls.
Lifetime tribute
Sauti za Busara Festival2012 · Stone Town, Zanzibar
Honoured on stage by the festival and its audience.
Tap an organisation to find others who studied or worked there.
Family & connections
Zuhura is survived by
- Mariam Hamad Juma· Daughter
- Said Hamad Juma· Son
- Khadija Hamad Juma· Daughter
- Ali Haji Khamis· Brother
- 11 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Zuhura.
Knew Zuhura? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- SH
Grandson, Muscat
Bibi sent me a cassette every Eid, even after I told her nobody owned a player. She said, 'Then buy one.' I did. Every Eid I now play her voice in my car, on the corniche, windows down, and let the whole street hear.
- SL
Ethnomusicologist, Paris
I recorded Bi Zuhura in 1999 for my doctoral research. She corrected my Swahili pronunciation, laughed at my notes and then sang a verse so beautiful that I stopped the tape and just listened. I have the original cassette, and I will not copy it.
- MJ
Daughter
Mama gave me a kanga on my wedding day with a single line on it: 'Mapenzi ni kama bahari.' Love is like the sea. I did not understand it then. After thirty years, I do. I am wearing it today.
- ZR
Neighbour in Mkunazini
Forty years of afternoons, I heard Zuhura rehearsing through the wall. She sang every line six times and cooked pilau in between. When the call to prayer came, she stopped mid-word and washed. The street will be quiet in a way we are not ready for.
- MS
Student in her courtyard classes
I was nine, shy, and my voice shook. Bi Zuhura said, 'A shaking voice is just a voice with a heart in it.' She taught me to breathe from my feet. I now sing at weddings across the island, and each time I hear her humming in the wings.
- HM
Oud player, Culture Musical Club
I accompanied her for twenty-six years and never once knew which key she would start in. She would close her eyes, breathe, and the oud would simply find her. After the show she always said 'Asante, Haji', as if I had done her a favour.
