Fatuma Binti Baraka was born before her time, and she lived her life perpetually in front of the curve. She never had any children of her own, but she leaves a legacy that will never die. She once said that singing taarab was like “throwing your soul into the sky,” and, after years of reaching for the stars, she has now made her home among them.
No one knows exactly when Fatuma Binti Baraka, the legendary Bi Kidude, was born. But we do know that it was a long time ago – 1915 or thereabouts – in an era when the East African coast was thriving as a hub of trade, plied by wealthy traders from Asia, the Middle East and beyond.
“I began singing when I was a child, just 10 years old,” she said in an interview. “At that time, rich merchants would come to Zanzibar and when they arrived you knew they were here to have fun. Some of them were Arabs. Others were Tuubis. When you heard that the Tuubis were in town, you knew the rich men had arrived. When they were around, you would hear them play their music.”
