Mbira master Forward Kwenda has collaborated with two of his students to release a new mbira album, Chawapiwa. It’s an 8 track album offering a number of favourites for many mbira enthusiasts and players. The album is a result of a collaboration that was proposed by Forward Kwenda to his […]
Mbira singing workshop with Anna Mudeka
Join Anna Mudeka for a special mbira singing workshop on Saturday 25th March at Cranworth Village hall from 10am-4pm. Audiences will be transported to Zimbabwe through music which has been played for over a thousand years by the Shona people. Anna will talk and play the Mbira and share traditional songs with […]
Rendezvous with Mbira Player and Singer Hope Masike
Mbira player and singer Hope Masike continues to captivate audiences both in Zimbabwe and abroad with her music. She was interviewed by TRT World as part of ‘Rendezvous’, a series of short portraits of prominent artists and intellectuals around the world. About Hope Masike Masike takes pride in together-blending mbira […]
Gabriel Makamanzi Album on Sale
Gabriel Makamanzi and the Afresh Band’s hit album Ndangariro is now available to buy via all major online music stores. Please see below SPOTIFY LINK: https://play.spotify.com/album/42vxLqvTKLnC6DiyGRcp3E YOUTUBE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzJlODQcmsAV2hBt-IYjQt_UhSqPABmcC ITUNES LINK: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1080544377?ls=1&app=itunes APPLE MUSIC LINK: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1080544377 GOOGLE PLAY LINK: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Gabriel_Makamanzi_and_the_Afresh_Band_Ndangariro?id=B3y2qspllrifklx5yfcj4mihnzi ` BANDCAMP LINK: http://afreshband.bandcamp.com/album/ndangariro
African Music, Power, and Being in Colonial Zimbabwe
Historian Mhoze Chikowero’s new book reveals the role of music in the subjugation and liberation of African culture. By Jim Logan for The Current History records colonialism as a lingering infection of violent domination. The conquerors arrive with avarice and superior weapons, and maintain order through intimidation. Sometimes, though, says […]
Sekuru Gora’s song that captured the nation
Voting for Hope Masike for KORA Award
Hope Masike has been nominated for the prestigious KORA All-Africa Music Awards under the Best Traditional Female Artist of Africa category. The mbira player will be up against 5 other nominees on the 20th of March. Huyai Tinamate Hope was nominated for her track Huyai Tinamate which you can listen to […]
Usandikanganwe: Just Chill
Gabriel Makamanzi and the Afresh Band
Just before Christmas last year I came across the new 9 track album, Ndangariro, by Northern Ireland-based Zimbabwean musician Gabriel Makamanzi and the Afresh Band. I listened, the opening track took me places, I picked up the phone and called Northern Ireland to chat with Sekuru Lavender, as Gabriel is popularly known, […]
On the Early History of African Lamellophones
The history of African lamellophones can be reconstructed by comparative studies of the instruments, the tunings, the music played on them and specifically by studying and comparing the words and technical terms used in different languages for the instruments, their parts, for techniques of playing and tuning them, aspects of […]