Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of the Swahili people inhabiting the Swahili coast. This littoral area encompasses Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique, as well as the adjacent islands of Zanzibar and Comoros and some parts of Malawi. They speak Swah ...

, most notably in

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

and in some areas of western

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, the word ''unyago'' refers both to a set of

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...

s and to the music and dance styles that are traditionally associated with such rituals. The unyago rituals were practiced to celebrate the coming of age of girls or during

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

s. In those rituals, older women would teach the young ones about

sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...

and conjugal life. These rituals would last several days and be accompanied by dances and music. In modern East Africa, unyago rituals are still occasionally practiced, but unyago dances and music are also performed independent of such rituals, as part of the local

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

. Bi Kidude and Bi Ngwali are two well-known Zanzibari singers who occasionally perform unyago music.About Unyago
at Zanzibits

Footnotes

Tanzanian music Kenyan styles of music Swahili culture African traditional music Tanzanian styles of music {{Kenya-stub