He subsequently decided to send Mohamed Ibrahim from Zanzibar to Egypt to learn music and to play the kanun, a string instrument similar to the zither.

Playing in a similar style, smaller Kidumbak ensembles grew popular, at least among the poor of Zanzibar, featuring two small drums, bass, violins and dancers using claves and maracas.

The 1960s saw a group called the Black Star Musical Club from Tanga modernize the genre, bringing it to audiences farther afield, especially Burundi and Kenya.

Taarab forms a part of the social life of the Swahili people along the coastal areas, especially in Zanzibar, Tanga and even further in Mombasa and Malindi along the Kenya coast.

[2] Today, taarab songs may be explicit – sometimes even graphic – in sexual connotation, and much of the music of groups like Melody and Muungano is composed and played on keyboards, increasing portability for different venues.