Zanzibar Musical Club

Zanzibal Musical Club invites the audience to explore and enjoy the music from an ancient town at the crossroads of the spice route. Although it was decidedly less exuberant and blatantly "feel-good" than I was expecting, I very much enjoyed this film. The director has a great talent for people-watching and captures some moments of sublime loveliness. I am, however, a bit concerned about the authenticity of the documentation. For instance, after listening to an old man sing a traditional song on a street corner, he is teased by his friends to whom he confides he hasn't sung in over 30 years but he'd do anything for foreign money. While it created one of my favourite moments of the doco, it also made me wonder how much actual culture we were glimpsing, and how much foreign romanticism was being created for the camera. Despite the fact that this doco may not offer an actual, authentic glimpse into Zazibarian (?) life, I did enjoy it quite a lot.