The oud came to Mombasa on Arab dhows centuries before the Portuguese arrived. Taarab grew from that meeting of Swahili poetry, Indian Ocean trade rhythms, and instruments that traveled by sail. By the 1920s, Mombasa and Lamu had taarab orchestras performing at weddings and Maulidi celebrations. The music sounds like it could belong to Oman or Zanzibar, but listen closely and the Swahili is unmistakable. Taarab is what happens when the ocean brings the world to one coast and that coast makes it its own.