Zimpapers Logo

Hope Masike

Yeukai Karengezeka Arts Correspondent
A musical collaboration dubbed “Kunzwana 1” featuring some outstanding and innovative Austrian and Zimbabwean musicians is expected to rock the Book Café tomorrow.
The show will be an encounter between seven outstanding musicians from Austria, France and Zimbabwe which will unfold across the Southern African     region.
It will strike a balance between different styles and cultures with musicians performing in a close-up concert at Book Café, after an earlier performance at Hifa yesterday.

Involved in the “Kunzwana 1” collaboration are some of Zimbabwe’s most creative and exciting young artists like the award winning mbira prodigy Hope Masike, Josh Meck a bass guitar star, Blessing Chimanga (drummer) and Orthnell “Mangoma” Moyo (percussionist).

International icons will be acclaimed musicians Isabelle Duthoit from France, Franz Hautzinger from Austria on the trumpet and Werner Puntigam from Austria on the trombone and conch shell.

The artistes all focus on mbira and chimurenga inspired contemporary music styles.
The tour started with a visit by the Austrian musicians to the group Simonga in the remote village of Siachilaba deep in the Zambezi Valley, with the traditional Ngoma Buntibe musical art form of the Tonga people.

After intense rehearsals, interaction and performances in Harare, the trans-cultural ensemble “Kunzwana 1” will go on to perform in venues in South Africa, with a number of further joint performances that are already lined up at music festivals in Austria in July 2014.