Zein l'Abdin RIP

[CallMePaul]

I have just found out from the latest Songlines that the Kenyan ta'arab musician Zein l'Abdin Ahmed Alamoody died suddenly on 27 June aged 77. Zein was born in Lamu on Kenya's northern coast but spent most of his life in Mombasa, where he played oud in a number of groups before leading his own Zein Musical Party. His sound was very different from the more familiar ta'arab groups in Zanzibar with perhaps less African rhythm but none the worse for that.

Zein made a number of recordings but only 2 international releases, neither of which appear to be currently available, which is annoying as my copies were stolen in a burglary several years ago and I have not been able to replace them. The GlobeStyle and Dizim labels on which they were released appear to be defunct, but the Buda release Zanzibara 2 does include a few tracks. Perhaps whoever owns the rights to these recordings should consider a reissue as a tribute to this very distinctive voice, especially the Dizim release The Swahili Song Book, which with its fine poetry and sparse instrumentation harks back to the almost extinct Lamu tradition. alternatively a compiler of World Music anthologies might want to visit Mombasa to see what is available locally and obtain international release rights.

RIP Zein

[Globaltruth]

Thanks for posting,
I've had a quick look

Album is on Spotify
and I found a couple of tracks on YouTube, however a fast search on Sterns found nothing to buy.

[Lat-Literal]

I have just found out from the latest Songlines that the Kenyan ta'arab musician Zein l'Abdin Ahmed Alamoody died suddenly on 27 June aged 77. Zein was born in Lamu on Kenya's northern coast but spent most of his life in Mombasa, where he played oud in a number of groups before leading his own Zein Musical Party. His sound was very different from the more familiar ta'arab groups in Zanzibar with perhaps less African rhythm but none the worse for that.

Zein made a number of recordings but only 2 international releases, neither of which appear to be currently available, which is annoying as my copies were stolen in a burglary several years ago and I have not been able to replace them. The GlobeStyle and Dizim labels on which they were released appear to be defunct, but the Buda release Zanzibara 2 does include a few tracks. Perhaps whoever owns the rights to these recordings should consider a reissue as a tribute to this very distinctive voice, especially the Dizim release The Swahili Song Book, which with its fine poetry and sparse instrumentation harks back to the almost extinct Lamu tradition. alternatively a compiler of World Music anthologies might want to visit Mombasa to see what is available locally and obtain international release rights.

RIP Zein

Thank you CMP. You mentioned him in the A to Z in late 2015 - "Zein Musical Party, taarab group based in Mombasa and led by Zein l'Abdin al Ahmed Alamoody from Lamu in northern Kenya (does anyone know what has happened to him?)". I replied research suggested that he played Womad circa 1990 and would have been 76 in 2015. Sad news.