Zein l’Abdin Ahmed Alamoody was born in Lamu island in 1939 at a time when Lamu as a centre of Islamic learning, trade and art was at a decline. Lamu was famous for exporting boriti (mangrove poles). Zein’s father and uncle were both musicians and the latter, Seyyid Ali Basakuta was a well-known ‘ud player. Seyyid had grown up playing the kibangala, and instrument that was a variant of the Arabian gambus lute. The gambus is a stringed lute of Arabian origin from the same family as the ‘ud, barabat and qanbus which reached the Swahili coast through trade and cultural influence, similar to other instruments like tabla drums and tashkoto.
Zein, at a very young age, was influenced by the circulation of famous recordings of Egyptian music in Lamu and Mombasa, and influence that was to play a huge part in his adoption of Egyptian styles from musicians like Farid Al Atrash and Riyad El-Sunbati. He also came into contact with Kuwaiti music in his father’s gatherings as he entertained Kuwaiti seafarers who considered music an integral part of seafaring. It was the visiting Kuwaiti musicians who introduced Zein’s uncle Basakuta to the ‘ud.
Zein moved to Mombasa in 1956 after his father’s death a few years earlier carrying an ‘ud that had been in his family’s possession for years. At the time there were no music schools and much as his uncle Basakuta was an ‘ud master, Zein was largely self-taught. In Mombasa he learned form the ‘ud player Omar Awadh Ban and also through tape recordings that brought him into closer proximity with Egyptian music. He considered Farid Al-Atrash his teacher and even copied the master’s attitude in his performances.
By the 60s, Zein ha formed his own orchestra, Zein Musical Party, building a formidable name for himself with recordings under the famous Assanand & Sons and later recording cassettes at Mbwana Radio Service and live performances. At the time, the Indian-influenced taarab was a big thing in Mombasa and he joined the wagon, using song melodies from Hindi films. The use of the tashkota and accordion gave his performances an Indian feel but he abandoned this in the mid-70s and adopted a more Arab (hence, Swahili) style using only his ‘ud and lyrical voice.
As he branched out into this genre, he collaborated with two rising stars in the Mombasa taarab scene- Zuhura Swaleh and Maulidi Juma Iha. He also performed with Asha Abdo Suleiman “Malika”. The three were to later branch out of their own, creating their own bands as Maulidi Juma with his Maulidi Musical Party, crafted a danceable Indian taarab brand, Zuhura Swaleh (teaming with Mohamed Kombo, a tashkota player) venturing inti a style centered on the women’s ngoma/chakacha. Malika did great in the women’s wedding circuit as well. Zuhura and maulid’s work gave rise to the synthesizer-driven “modern taarab.
Zein’s style.
Zein’s musical style is influenced, as we have mentioned above by Indian, Hadhrami, Egyptian, Kuwaiti and Swahili elements. The latter forms the most extensive influence in his body of work as he felt more at home using influences of his own culture. This gained more essence later when he started working with two renown Swahili poets; Khuleita Said Muhashamy (1950-2013) and Sheikh Ahmed Sheikh Nabhany.
Khuleita, a renowned poet, hailed form a Mazrui clan in Mombasa. Zein was a terrific poet in his own right as well and a songbook he possessed in the 70s had almost half of the poems written by Khuleita. She went on to become Malika’s main poet while Zein entered into a working agreement with Nabhany. Sheikh Nabhany held a lot of cultural knowledge and his poetry was oriented towards documenting and preserving Swahili traditions, which also enabled Zein to hinge his music on a strong cultural identity.
Nabhany went on to supply Zein with more poems from Lamu’s golden age which had been handed down to him from his grandmother Amina Abubakr Sheikh (1880-1975) who was also a poet of note. She was Nabhany’s first poetic contact and teacher as well as the one who raised him.