STAFF WRITER
A BUMBER cast of mbira ensembles is set to take to the stage at Norton’s Pakare Paye Village on October 16 starting from 2pm.
Afro Fusion musician Kudzai Andrew Ngwenya popularly known as Andy Muridzo is the guest artist and will share the stage with various mbira ensembles including Mbira Dzenharira, Goromonzi Arts, Guruve’s Chinyakare crew, Gokwe Arts Hub, Lioness and ninga DzeNharira and Mbira DzeNjatare.
The Mbira Orchestra is being hosted by Dzepamvura Mbira Art Centre.
Tickets are on sale online for a limited number of fans who will attend in line with Covid-19 protocols, organisers have said.
The show’s project manager Valiant Kandororo said the gig will help the mbira bands reconnect with audiences after a lengthy lay-off occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Our target crowd is limited to 100 although it’s not going to be easy controlling the crowd because people love their melodious sound of Mbira Music (Musambo weDeze),” Kandororo said.
“For the artists we have limited the number but tried to compose different lines of culture and tradition as we nationalise,” he added.
Kandororo said Saturday’s gig is a huge step in popularizing the ancient music instrument.
“Ensuring that all traditional instrumentalists develop and maintain a career in the creative industry, irrespective of their background is a commitment that has spurred on Dzepamvura Mbira Art Centre. The organisation had planned a 3-phase Mbira Festival in early 2020, however, due to the pandemic and festival restrictions, the project was paralysed,” he continued.
“There is a growing interest in the Mbira, however, there is still more to be done and it is only through a collaborative effort that Zimbabwe will see the creative industry changing the dial on diversity and inclusion for future generations of traditional instrumentalists and audiences.”
“The lived experience of rural and ethnically diverse traditional instrumentalists has not been easy, as the artists who live traditional lives seek work from other countries due to the lack of extensive appreciation of the traditional and cultural heritage locally.”
Kandororo said Dzepamvura Mbira Art Centre has found it necessary to be the hub for artists to collaborate and revive the appreciation of all traditional instruments.
The Centre serves as a hub for the manufacturing of the mbira, and reconstructing bridges between generations in understanding cultural values.
“The Mbira Orchestra Project is a strategy that is uniting different traditional instrumentalists from different regions of Zimbabwe, to resurrect the eroded interests in traditional instruments and also be part of the global cultural wave,” Kandororo said.
The Mbira instrument is an indigenous cultural asset to the Southern African hemisphere and is part of the Zimbabwean culture and heritage.
The 15th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICG) held from 14-19 December 2020 inscribed Malawi and Zimbabwe’s art of crafting and playing mbira/sansi (thumb piano) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, Kirsty Coventry celebrated the nomination saying it showed the country’s commitment to the implementation of the 2003 Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Ticket sale details
Ecocash 0786666530
Empowerment Bank Acc No. 900055298376
Mukuru. Valiant Kandororo id 24-198644y7. After Payment is done please forward your payment confirmation message to+263786666530/+263771939522
Or visit us at Dzepamvura Mbira Art Centre No. 238 Galloway Rd Norton.
