WASIFU WA SITI BINTI SAAD-----RIWAYA / HADITHI--------BY SHAABAN ROBERT

Siti binti Saad alikuwa mwanamke wa kwanza Zanzibar kusimama jukwaani na kuimba nyimbo za taarab. Katika kitabu hiki, Shaaban Robert anaelezea juu ya maisha ya umaskini na hali ya chini aliyoishi msanii huyu, katika jamii ya Zanzibar iliyokitwa na tabaka za kijamii miaka ya kwanza ya karne ya ishirini. Licha ya kuwa sura yake ati haikuwa nzuri, alifikia hali ya juu ya nyota wa uimbaji wa taarabu akapendwa na wapenda taarabu si Zanzibar tu na Afrika ya Mashariki, lakini pia alipendwa hadi Misri na India. Kwa wapenzi wa taarab bado ni malkia, sawa na alivyokuwa Om Kulthum wa Misri. 

 

 Siti binti Saad was the first woman Taarab singer in Zanzibar. In this book Shaaban Robert looks at the background of the singer: poverty and low birth, in a society riven by class and race in early 20th century Zanzibar. Despite her so-called bad looks, she became a star whose voice was recognised and loved by many, not only in Zanzibar and East Africa, but as far as Egypt and India. She was and remains to taarab lovers, the equivalent of Egypt’s Om Kulthoum.