‘Crazy Monday’ Jam Session is a weekly event, held every Monday at the Red Monkey Lodge in Jambiani (SE coast of Zanzibar). The crowd consist of a great mix of tourists, expats and local residents. In co-operation with various organisations (first of all LearnAfrica and the Dhow Countries Music Academy (DCMA)) we have, in the two years since starting this initiative, been gifted with the participa
tion of many world class musicians and managed to create numerous fantastic evenings with great audiences. A resident sound engineer guarantees high quality audio and the in-house PA system plus a variety of instruments belonging to the Lodge are available for participants during these occasions. One key aim is to gain exposure for local talent – these performers can gain hugely from meeting international artists on stage and we are holding regular workshops for their benefit*. These jam sessions also have on several occasions marked the beginning of interesting synergies between artists resulting in recordings and africa wide bookings. In the last years we were gifted with many special guests on our small stage including: Joss Stone, Oliver 'Tuku' Mtukudzi, Eric Wainaina, Sona Jobarteh, Tcheka , Akua Naru, Blessing Chimanga, Blitz The Ambassador, Bopao Jazz, Brian Mugenyi, Carl Winther, Damian Soul, Derek Gripper, Karyna Gomez, Don Baker, Ekow Alabi (Ebo Taylor band), Morten Schantz, Jim Kroft, Joe Driscoll, Karen Mukupa, Malfred Alfred, Manuh Swaai, Msafiri Zawose, Mzungu Kichaa, Grace Matata, One the Incredible, Joh Makini, G-Nako, Jr., Paleface & MC Matre, Publish the Quest, Ashimba, Moussa Diallo and many other great musicians from East Africa and far beyond. Crazy Monday has evolved into one of the main weekly live music events on the island, attracting crowds of 100 to 150 people each time resuting in a sold out event.
*Together with Learn Africa and DCMA, Red Monkey Lodge has also started a series of workshops leading into a pre-diploma outreach course supported by Goethe-Institut Tanzania, open to musicians and youth from the east coast of Zanzibar. Academic staff from DCMA run this regular monthly theory course at the Lodge. Workshops so far have focused on basic music theory, guitar techniques, percussion, live audio and digital recording.
