| March 2007
Well well well…
It’s been an extremely busy two months for me. Harare
in May saw the HIFA (Harare International Festival of
the Arts) kicking off with great success. HIFA for me
this year was a real treat, performing in the opening
festival to a crowd of around 5,000 people. One of the
songs I performed was Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song“
on mbira, which went into a moving rendition of
“Tomorrow“ by Prudence Katomeni-Mbofana. Throughout
the week I had appearances in the Poetry Café – the
brilliant addition to the festival master-minded and
curated by Chirikure Chirikure. This year’s theme was
“In the Beginning Was The Word“. The Poetry Café
featured powerful writers and spoken word artists such
as Disraeli (UK), whom I performed with alongside
Hanne Evang (Norway) on flute… Stanley Kekani (Malawi)
who in one of his sessions came together with Poetic
Angel (Zimbabwe) to share a very funny, touching poem
about love… Napo Masheane (South Africa), who’s
powerful words and deep spirit brought to mind my
great sister Lebohang Mashile… Steve Makoni (Zimbabwe)
with his witty guitar and satyrical lyrics… Comrade
Fatso (Zimbabwe), who’s fire-breathing poetry and loud
shouts of “hoooouugh!!“ at the end of his pieces had
the audience calling for more… Shimmer Chinodya
(Zimbabwe) whose stories were laced with dreams and
irony… Khadijah Mteka-Teka (Zimbabwe) who performed
poems filled with sexiness and the power of the woman…
During the festival I also had the great pleasure of
being invited to the stage by two of the headlining
groups that performed during the week: Trio Ivoire
(Germany/Ivory Coast/Holland) which consists of Hans
Lüdemann (piano)?, Aly Keita (balaphon/sanza) and
?Chander Sardjoe (drums/percussion). Trio Ivoire were
a huge success at HIFA with their concentrated,
complex beautiful combination of African rythms and
melodies and European jazz.
The second group was that of Cameroonian singer Blick
Bassy featuring Boubacar Sissoko (kora), ?Moustapha
Ndiaye (calabash) and ?Johan Berby (double bass), a
lovely jam that also had multi-instrumentalist Kinobe
(Uganda) on stage.
My own performance - headlined “Chiwoniso & Friends
Present Dandemutande” – was a collaboration of my
acoustic group Vibe Culture and The Courtauld Brass
Quintet led by Norwegian tuba maestro Havard Evang.
The brain behind the formation of this performance was
Clayton Ndlovu, the HIFA consultant for Traditional,
Folk and World Music and Dance. Once our two groups
got our groove going the rehearsals were an experience
of the connection of two very different, powerful
sounds that together created a new one. With Merdy
Luaso (Congo) and Farai Young Chimaye (Zimbabwe) on
trumpets, Addington Mutandazi (Zimbabwe) and Michael
Stack (Zimbabwe) on trombones and Hanne Evang as a
guest soloist on flute, the brass section blew magic
to the music made by Jacob Mafuleni (Zimbabwe) and
Elvis Banda (Zimbabwe) on mbira, Sailas Kamutikaoma
(Zimbabwe) on percussion, Malvern Kujeke (Zimbabwe) on
double bass and backing vocals and Rumbi Tavaziva
(Zimbabwe) on main backing vocals. The beautiful
Martha Thom (Zimbabwe) had the audience entranced with
her graceful traditional dancing and drummer David
Moyo (Zimbabwe) kept all our rythms together.
The tickets for the show were sold out days before the
festival started, which was a great kick for me but
became rather difficult as I had desperate mates
calling me up trying to get tickets! And what a
beautiful performance it was, with an audience of
about 500 people, children and all.
After HIFA I flew out to Dortmund, Germany to take
part in the Creole Music Awards (17th – 20th of May)
where I was invited to be a judge. My four other jury
members were Leo Vervelde (Head of Jury - Holland),
Francois Bensignor (France), Alexander Cheparukhin
(Russia) and Ben Mandelson (United Kingdom). The
Creole competition is specifically for bands within
Gemany that perform world music, meaning groups with
members and musical influences from other ehtnic
backrounds in Germany. In three days my jury members
and I had to choose the three top groups out of a
collection of twenty-one, which meant each day
listening to seven bands, each of which had twenty
minutes in which to present themselves. Our decision
was not an easy one. After deep deliberation,
discussion and consideration, the three groups we
chose were Äl Jawala (Freiburg), Ahoar (Bonn) and
ulman (Leipzig/Halle). We also made a Special Jury
Mention recognising Enkh Jargal (Karlsruhe). The
Audience Award went to Äl Jawala.
The 25th of May was the start of four days gigging in
Europe with a full band from Zimbabwe. The lineup was:
Keith Farquharson (keyboards, vocals), Moses Manda
Saize (percussion, vocals), Clive “Bobby“ Mutyasira
(drums), Jaob Mafuleni (mbira, percussion), Clive
“Mono“ Mukundu (guitar), Josh Meck (bass guitar) and
Rumbi Tavaziva (main backing vocals). Our
performances were at One World Village - Berlin,
Germany (25th), Music Meeting - Njimegen, Holland
(26th), Africa Festival - Wuerzburg, Germany (27th)
and Afro Pfingsten - Winterthur, Switzerland (28th).
The May gigs were particularly special for me because
it was my first time sharing the stage with this
particular lineup of musicians from Zimbabwe. We were
tight!
I was back in Zimbabwe end of May spending some deeply
appreciated time with Farai and the girls, after which
I flew out to Vermont, where I am now with Keith
Farquharson working intensely on mixing the new cd. On
the 27th I had a spirit-filled solo performance
arranged by Kathi von Koerber of Kiahkeya at the
Metropolitan Building in New York City. Kathi, who is
a dancer, and I met at HIFA this year and made a
strong connection. I found that she is one of those
people who has a deep understanding of earth, you are
a deep woman, Sista Kathi! I had the insane pleasure
of both my brothers Ziyanai and Dumisani Upenyu plus
my cousin-brother Louis come to the performance, so it
was no sleep. At 5 in the morning the four of us and a
friend were walking through Times Square…
Like I said…. Busy busy busy. Awesome work for which I
am grateful. Having said that I’m looking hugely
forward to heading back home on Tuesday to three very
special people whom I love very dearly!
Nerudo…
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