Nairobi — The organisers of the Sauti za Busara music festival held in Zanzibar recently must be praised for pulling it off despite what most people considered a major hitch.

The electricity problem which has plagued the island of Zanzibar since December 2009 was overcome with a number of generators at the Old Fort venue, guzzling up to 100 litres of diesel per day.

So the problem was beyond the organisers, but could not the Zanzibar government resolve it ahead of such a world class event?

Apparently not, despite the fact that the festival brings with it a 400 per cent rise in tourist numbers.

On this front at least, the Busara organisers had the foresight and innovation to come up with "Busara buddies," a team of muscle men to walk music fans back to their hotels through the labyrinth of a dark Stone Town for Tsh2,000 ($1.50).

But the organisers were not spared by critics who put festival director Yusuf Mahmoud on the spot regarding the festival's credibility and relevance as a showcase for Swahili music.

In its initial years, the festival touted itself as the Swahili Music Festival.

It has however taken on an international outlook, drawing artistes from all over Africa and the Diaspora, which has elicited murmurs of pandering to sponsors.

An example was Norwegian singer Mari Boine who was at the festival under the auspices of the Norwegian embassy in Dar es Salaam.

Her week long collaboration with East African artistes also came off as rather contrived.

There were also questions about whether the festival is really patronised by locals to the tune of 70 per cent as claimed, considering that there were far more Mzungu in the audience than locals.

This despite the free entry for locals and East African residents to the festival's Old Fort venue as an incentive.

According to festival statistics, only 30 per cent of the audience is foreign and comprises tourists from Europe, North America and Japan. This is debatable.

Critics cited the abundance of fusion acts as an adulteration of what should have been quintessential Swahili music.

Mahmoud's defence was that hybrid sounds and international acts bring new ideas and inspirational foreign acts bring experience to the festival.

However, for the most part, acts like Fresh Jumbe and African Express, a Tanzanian/ Japanese outfit offering rumba rhythms and dancing Japanese females worked for the good of the overall festival experience as did other hybrid experiments like Mim Suleiman, a Zanzibari singer who peppers her repertoire with elements of urban UK sound.

Ikwani Safaa Musical Club, Zanzibar's famed Taarab orchestra, teamed up with Tamalyn Dallal, a US belly dancer, in a hybrid where fluid body movements gelled in tandem with the stringed sounds from the oud, violin and quanun.

Even with the critics' onslaught, the festival director insisted that Sauti za Busara is very much an East African affair adding that of 40 acts on the bill, 75 per cent were drawn from the region.

"10 artistes from Zanzibar, 10 from Tanzania, 10 from Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, and 10 from the African continent and the Diaspora," he said at a press conference.

He reeled off more festival statistics revealing an annual festival attendance of up to 18,000 over its four-day duration.

While the line-up was not a 100 per cent Swahili music affair, the organisers made up for that by handpicking artistes that guaranteed a mixed sound to satisfy all tastes.

Even with Ugandan Juliana Kanyomozi's no-show -- due to bureaucracy at her sponsors -- East Africa made quite a splash with an impressive line-up that drew exposure.

The festival's biggest plus this year was the number of female artistes.

By the director's own admission, it has been a herculean task getting female artistes to come to Zanzibar.

They did however hold their own in a diverse display that had South Africa's Thandiswa yodelling and dancing to infectious Xhosa chants. Zambia's Maureen Lupo Lilanda enthralled with zouk-tinged sounds that garnished an eclectic mix of folk and urban Zambian music.

Kenya's Makadem wowed with his Anglo-Ohangla concoction that introduced fans to sounds and songs like Kisumu-bound Bus that explored everything from hip-hop, Luo chants and tones from Luo traditional ohangla and nyatiti beats.

Nyota Ndogo took the experience a notch higher serving up lots of charisma and sensual taarab while sticking to a social consciousness.

Mapacha Africa wowed with traditional rhythms while Maia von Lekow's gig was mostly a sedate affair that brought a 1930s cabaret jazz pop feel to the festival.

Tanzania counted on enduring Taraab diva Bi Kidude to lend credence to the festival once again.

The Pemba-based KVZ Tupendane to enchanted with their traditional ngoma sounds, pelvic gyrations on chaso, boso, mdungushi and msondo dance routines.

Swifatui Abraar Group brought a rarely seen musical side to Islamic culture while the Sowers Group took revellers on a spiritual high with divine gospel melodies.

As is the tradition at the festival, a choice Tanzanian act Banana Zorro and the B Band wrapped up the four-day musical fete.

Zorro is son to the legendary singer Ally Zorro and the father and son act brought in memorable bongo flava and rhumba sounds.

Uganda's appearance was like a footprint in the sand that is quickly washed away by the ocean tide.

Only Kora prodigy Joel Sebunjo and Sosolya Dance Academy were on hand to fly Uganda's flag.

There was not much to remember of an intimidated Sebunjo and his Sundiata Band after the performance by Kora maestros Ba Cissoko from Guinear.

Redemption came by way of Sosolya Dance Academy who wowed with a medley of Ugandan dances that were capped by Betty Akidi's tiered pot dance.

The festival rewards cultural tourists; the kind that appreciates the 300-year-old heritage etched in the rugged walls of the Old Fort venue fondly called Ngome Kongwe.

Zanzibar also serves up a host of peripheral activities that visitors can indulge in as while away the day before the evening musical fare.

A visit to Prison Island enables you to play with starfish in the ocean's turquoise waters and also ride on the back of a tortoise.

The finger-licking barbecued seafood at Forodhani will keep those hunger pangs at bay while and a session at the adjacent Dhow Countries Music Academy will bring you up close with visiting festival artistes getting a taste of Swahili culture in the Swahili Encounters workshop.