End of the Road as Sauti za Busara closes its doors

Zanzibar. After 19 years of celebrating African music under the African skies, Sauti za Busara music festival is set to close its doors due to lack of funding, organisers have announced on Wednesday March 23.
The Busara promotions which has been organising the event for almost two decades has announced the suspension of its operations with effect from March 31, 2022.
Speaking at the press conference in their offices in Maisara, Festival director Yusuf Mahmoud said without funds to cover salaries and office expenses, it would be no longer possible for internationally acclaimed festival to continue its operation.
Since the organisation's establishment Zanzibar in March 2003, it has been promoting and celebrating African music and cultural heritage.
The festival is traditionally held in February in Stone Town, attracts thousands of visitors from all continents to enjoy more than 400 exhibition groups performing on stage.
According to Mr Mahmoud the core funding that they had been receiving from the Norwegian Embassy for the past 13 years will come to an end in March 2023.
“Busara’s income from ticket sales covers less than 30 percent of the total costs which runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars. It would probably get in twice as much if it just corresponded to the commercial purpose,” said Mr Mhamoud.
He added: Most locals will remember how the festival has changed in February from the season of less than 3,000 visitors to Zanzibar in 2004, to more than 40,000 visitors in the same month before Covid 10 pandemic," he said.
The number of tourists to Zanzibar has since increased significantly each year in February with International media naming the Sauti za Busara as one of the top 10 must-go-to events.
A report shows that even in 2020, tourist arrivals in Zanzibar during the month of February increased by 0.5 percent to 61,752 arrivals whereas in February 2021, there were 51,574 arrivals compared to 49,868 in January of the same year.
This was quite against global trends where most countries had closed their airspace and some were still in lockdowns.