Culture and Development East Africa, an NGO based in Dar es Salaam, collected musicians looking to improve their marketing skills for a boot camp at Red Monkey Lodge in Jambiani, Zanzibar from May 30 to June 3.

Together with an eclectic mix of experienced and breaking musicians like myself, we shuffled our instruments and bags through the ferry at Dar es Salaam, and sailed for Zanzibar.

The musicians included Msafiri Zawose (vocalist, zeze/irimba player), Wakazi (hip hop), One the Incredible (hip-hop, producer), Grace Matata (vocalist, guitarist), Shabani Jam (base/ lead guitarist & keyboardist), Leonard Oscar Kayoyo (bass and lead guitarist), Annette Ngongi (vocalist), Carol Anande (vocalist, spoken word) Remigius Sostenes (drummer, guitarist), Christopher ‘Tofa’ (vocalist), Amina Omar (taarab vocalist, oud player), Willie HD (producer, bass guitarist, keyboardist), Malfred (reggae vocalist, guitarist) and Jeff Mduma (vocalist & guitarist), among others.

The camp had guest lecturers speaking to participants during the day, and jam sessions at night with experienced sound engineers.

Among the facilitators was Miss Jude Clark, a digital marketing strategist who talked about the importance of having a good online footprint. Veronika Kamwele and Segali from the Digital Opportunity Trust, an NGO based in Dar es Salaam, facilitated talks on entrepreneurial skills.

They helped participants to create their own websites, and gave them tips on how to make a living as musicians apart from selling music via records and gigs.

Prof Mitch Strumpf, an ethnomusicologist who teaches at the Dhow Academy of Music in Zanzibar, had us listen to the first recorded music from Tanzania, from 1906.

Veteran Tanzanian musician John Kitime, took the team through copyright laws, a topic the musicians found most interesting. Producer Sam Jones of Sound Thread presented recordings from his clients in East Africa, who include the band Sarabi from Kenya.