Before he was Freddie Mercury, the flamboyant, mercurial Queen of rock was Farrokh Bulsara, son of Bomi and Jer Bulsara, a Parsi couple from Bulsar (present-day Valsad) in Gujarat. The Bulsaras moved to Zanzibar (now in Tanzania) when Bomi found work at the High Court in Zanzibar as a cashier for the British Government. The family lived in a comfortable flat overlooking the sea in Stone Town, the historic part of Zanzibar City — a maze of shops, houses, bazaars, and mosques along narrow alleyways.
Mercury was born here on 5 September 1946, and spent his early years in Stone Town until he was sent to a boarding school in Panchgani, a British Raj-era hill town in Maharashtra, India, when he was 8 years old. The Bulsara family, too, left Zanzibar in the spring of 1964 during the violent revolution against the Sultan of Zanzibar in which many Arabs and Indians were killed.
Today, the house where the Bulsara family lived has been converted into a one-of-a-kind museum by Andrea Boero and Zanzibari businessman Javed Jafferji, lifelong fans of Freddie Mercury. The Freddie Mercury Museum Zanzibar, the first ever Museum dedicated to the rock legend, is located in his former home on Shangani Road, in the heart of Zanzibar's historic Stone Town neighbourhood. It was officially inaugurated on 24 November 2019, to commemorate the rock legend's 28th death anniversary.
The Museum houses a detailed record of Freddie Mercury's beginnings as Farrokh Bulsara, his roots within the Parsi-Zoroastrain faith, his childhood in Zanzibar, his schooling in Panchgani, India, and his extraordinary journey to becoming one of the greatest rockstars of all time. The Museum's collection includes archival photographs from the Bulsara family albums and Queen's archives, posters, albums, costumes, instruments, and artworks from key moments in the era-defining rockstar's life.
Despite setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic and backlash from Zanzibar's conservative muslim community who object to Mercury's fluid sexuality, the Museum has become a cornerstone of Stone Town's cultural heritage. It is a must-visit for fans of Freddie Mercury and Queen, as well as people interested in the making of rock music.
The Freddie Mercury Museum is located at 3181, Shangani Road, Zanzibar, Stone Town, Zanzibar. Open everyday from 10 AM to 6 PM.
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