CNN: One of Tanzania’s most endangered possessions isn’t its wildlife; it’s its music

Dozens of musical instruments — and the skill set to play them — are facing extinction in Tanzania, which is why Rebecca Corey, co-founder of the Tanzania Heritage Project, is on a mission to save them.

“Music in Tanzania is a repository for knowledge, beliefs, rituals, traditions, even historical events, so this heritage is important to keeping the fabric of social life whole and vibrant,” she says.

Corey’s organization has set itself the monumental task of digitizing hundreds of thousands of hours of traditional Tanzanian music. With this aim, she goes out on “recording safaris,” to meet with and record the few musicians left who both make and play the country’s traditional instruments, musicians like Kauzeni Lyamba, who is connecting with his roots by playing the flute. But not with his mouth. Lyamba plays the nose flute, an ancient instrument he says comes from Morogoro, 105 miles west of the capital Dar es Salaam. For the full article go here

The video coverage is in three parts: