‘Tunataka Nchi Yetu’ (We Want Our Country) Campaign Rallies, Music and Songs as Stages for Performing Zanzibari Nationalism

Nicodemus Minde (1)

1 United States International University (USIU).

Mambo! vol. XVIII, no. 3. This essay aims to show how Zanzibari nationalism was expressed through music performances during the 2020 campaign rallies. It does so by sampling one famous song within the opposition, Tunataka Nchi Yetu (We want our country), which was played in all the three major opposition rallies I observed in Zanzibar, in both Unguja and Pemba islands. The song was composed by the group Vijana wa Umoja wa Kitaifa Zanzibar (Youth of National Unity in Zanzibar). This group was associated with the CUF party and active in pushing ‘Maridhiano’ in Zanzibar in 2010.

Keywords: Zanzibar; Tanzania; Nationalism; international relations; political campaign; elections

Domains: Political science

Nicodemus Minde. ‘Tunataka Nchi Yetu’ (We Want Our Country) Campaign Rallies, Music and Songs as Stages for Performing Zanzibari Nationalism. 2021, https://mambo.hypotheses.org/3088. ⟨halshs-03209354⟩