Dhow Countries Music Academy

The academy promotes and preserves music heritage of the "Dhow Region" which include countries along the shores of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.

"In recent years the Music Academy of the Tanzanian island has become an important meeting center of the dynamic local cultural scene.

Dhows have been used in the region for centuries, and were key in developing thriving fishing, pearl diving and trade industries as well as cultural exchanges.

DCMA is a major center for the teaching and performance of music traditions that travelled with the boats from Middle East to Africa through the Indian Ocean.

Music learning at DCMA includes: Whilst the central aim of DCMA is to preserve and promote the musical heritage of Zanzibar and the "Dhow region", in more recent years it has introduced music-in-culture courses and special master classes, concerts and workshops with sound engineers, festival organizers from all over the world and professional musicians, i.e. Cleveland Watkiss, Oliver Mtukudzi, Ricardo Garcia, Blitz the Ambassador, Moussa Diallo, Harald Lassen, Florian Ross, Grzegorz Niemczuk, Leon Michael King, Piotr Damasiewicz, Derek Gripper, Makadem, and others.

Since 2012 DCMA is teaching in Kisiwadui Primary School a group of children with physical disabilities i.e. blindness, hearing problems or wheelchaired.

This year the academy started to work with a local NGO Kahesa Zanzibar and is providing free music education to children with Down syndrome and autism.

DCMA activities in Mahonda are targeted to people who already have some skills in music, enabling them to pass on their knowledge to others on a continuous basis.