THANK YOU!

I am so, so grateful! Grateful to the universe for letting yesterday happen – in the perfect way it did. Grateful for the wonderful musicians - Nelson, Takudzwa, Tsungai and Yusuf - who I can so proudly call my friends, and who led wonderful workshops yesterday, sharing a taste of the cultural heritage that raised us and formed the adults we are today. I’m grateful for the support of family and friends, who came out yesterday to help. Sandile, for your fantastic catering; Jez, for your help in the kitchen; Cato, for dealing with all the payments. Thank you Nickson & Shaun for lending us and transporting your drums. Thank you Tsungi for your support throughout the day. Thank you to my marvelous musicians who put on a wonderful concert last night, and have made my heart glow through each and every rehearsal – Graham, Karabo, Sophia, Yusuf, Miles and Bea, you guys rock! Thank you to everyone who supported my first attempt at running a cultural arts festival – for buying tickets to the workshops, for having food and drinks, for attending our concert last night and for all your smiles, hugs, calls, texts and well-wishes. Thank you to my wonderful sound technician Francesco; thank you Tendai (Petite DJ) for rocking the theatre with your afro-house tunes; thank you Dennis and Katlego for helping with pictures and videos, and a BIG thank you to Jerry and the Brady Arts Centre for letting me host my event at your wonderful venue! My heart is as white as rice, as we say where I grew up. The next one will certainly be bigger and better. THANK YOU! <3

Dance workshop with Nelson Neves

Marimba Workshop With Otto Gumaelius

Mbira Workshop with Taku Mukiwa

Singing workshop with Tsungai Tsikirai

Drumming workshop with Joe Legwabe

Marimba Band Wedding Entertainment: Ngaa & Jon

Last night we had the great honour of performing inside the lovely Honourable Society of the Inner Temple! Warmest congratulations to Ngaa and Jon on their union!

Africa On The Square

I had a lovely time with Flame Lily Arts today, taking part in the parade during this year's Africa On The Square celebrations! 

Africa on the Square is an annual celebration of African culture, organised by the Mayor of London for Black History Month. The event takes place on Trafalgar Square every year and continues to grow with over 25,000 attending last year. It's a celebration of African arts and culture with live music, dancing, a talent show, an African market, food stalls, fashion show and lots of fun stuff for kids.

This year I was part of the parade with Flame Lily Arts, a professional cultural performing arts company based in the United Kingdom. The group was formed in 2009 out of a shared passion for entertaining audiences around the world with the culture and traditions of southern Africa.

Here's a video compilation put together by my friend Ahuv with highlights from the day!

Live Music At Luna Lounge

We're bringing the warm sounds of southern Africa to Luna Lounge in Leytonstone this Friday evening! It's free entry - and music starts at 9pm!

Taste of Southern Africa Cultural Arts Festival

I'm very excited to be two weeks away from the launch of Taste of Southern Africa Cultural Arts Festival on October 21st. This two day festival is aimed at sharing the cultural arts of southern Africa with the UK during Black History Month.

It'll be a great opportunity to try out something new, make new friends, and share in the colourful culture of southern Africa.

We've got a great line up of dance and music workshops and a fantastic concert to round off the day.

Tickets are available from: www.tasteofsouthernafrica.com/tickets 

The Battersea Power Station Midnight Run

In August I had the honour of being a part of The Midnight Run - a walking, arts-filled, night-time cultural journey through a city. It gathers strangers and local artists/activists to explore, play and create whilst the city sleeps.

Here's a highlights video of the Battersea edition of the Midnight Run, which I took part in. My bit is near the end of the video.

Star & Obie's Wedding

Last night we had the honour of entertaining at Star & Obie's beautiful wedding in Kent. This was us warming up the wedding party with the sounds of the southern African marimba! We're playing a popular southern African gospel song called Avulekile Amasango.

South African Heritage Day Celebrations in Wimbledon Park

South African Diaspora UK hosted a lovely get together in Wimbledon Park this past weekend to mark South African Heritage Day, also known as Braai Day. I had the honour of taking part and got to give a small performance with my niece, after which I set up my marimbas on the side and let the kids have a go too.

Afrotake Media put the following short video together to cover some of the day's events:

Launch of Global Grooves Foundation

The crew and I were out in Woking this afternoon, providing marimba entertainment at the launch of the Global Grooves Foundation. We had a great day and got to sport some of the ties I made!

The River Weekender - Totally Thames Festival

Yesterday I presented From Limpopo to The Thames, two 45 minute musical journeys bringing the music of the cultures around the Limpopo river of southern Africa to those of the Thames of London.

Our performance area for the show

Mandatory changing room selfie, sporting one of the ties I made!

Hootananny Rootmaster Night

Last night headlining at Hootananny's Rootmaster night.

One Love Festival

Summer's not over yet - and what a great way to spend one of the last hot Saturdays of the year performing at a festival! 

The Madiba stage getting set up

Backstage 

Soundcheck

August Bank Holiday Weekend

I didn't get to go to Nottinghill Carnival this year - but I had a great long weekend nonetheless performing in London and Cudham with my marimba band, and in Southampton at a wedding with the fantastic Zimbabwean dance company, Flame Lily Arts.

Performing on Saturday morning at Limehouse Basin Social Market

Saturday evening in Southampton performing at a wedding with Flame Lily Arts

We were the opening act at Cudham Show and Fete on bank holiday Monday

Battersea Power Midnight Run

Last night was super, super cool! I got to explore Battersea with a lovely group of creative people. We wrote poetry, we explored movement through dance, and we learnt how to rap, all under the night sky! I held the last workshop and got to share some southern African folk music with the group. I taught them a song called Mhondoro, which comes from the Shona people of Zimbabwe, and got the group to explore southern African cultural expressions through marimba, drumming, hosho playing (shakers), clapping, singing and dancing.

African Marimba Music At ZimFest

I spent a lovely day at Kempton Park Racecourse giving marimba music workshops at this year's edition of ZimFest. The organisers did a stellar job putting on the festival - and the live music acts were all really good! Everyone was in great spirits and it was all round a fantastic day! A personal highlight was finally getting to see Jah Prayzah perform with his band! Great entertainers! Here are a few pictures as I was setting up for my workshops that morning!

Gandanga: Folk Songs of Southern Africa

Gandanga is a tune that was sung by the guerrilla combatants during the independence struggle from the illegal, racist government of Ian Smith, in what was then called Rhodesia. Songs like these would have been sung during the night time when the combatants sought refuge in the various villages. Very tongue-in-cheek, the combatants sing that they cannot be fed okra, because otherwise they will become ill or go insane. They of course want to be fed meat! After all, they are out fighting for the freedom of their people!

Some commentators draw parallels to modern day politics, where far too often political leaders think they are justified in their demands for things like huge pay cheques because they claim to be serving the people. Perhaps this is why Chiwoniso Maraire sang in her beautiful song Rebel Woman, "there will be no compensation, it was of your free will, that you stood on the front line. Rebel woman, these are the rules of war. Remember that you fought for your people, and all the freedom's been hard won, it's been so hard won. But as you weep rebel woman, remember you were strong".

It's a reminder of the harsh reality that when you stand up and fight for what you believe in, your ultimate reward lies in what you achieve for your people, rather than what your people will give you in return.

-- LYRICS --

Gandanga haridye derere (Freedom fighters don't eat okra)
Mukoma rinorwara (Brother, it would make them ill)
Gandanga haridye derere (Freedom fighters don't eat okra)
Mukoma rinopenga (Brother, it would make them crazy)

-- ABOUT OTTO AND THE MUTAPA CALLING --

Otto and The Mutapa Calling is a lively London based marimba band playing energetic, joyful music from Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, including folk songs, original songs and popular southern African covers. The band's set-up includes soprano, tenor and baritone marimbas, mbira, hosho, drumming and singing, with both traditional and contemporary dances. The marimba band’s sound is full of energy and pulsating rhythms - and the band’s music shares the rich cultures, histories and stories of the people of southern Africa.

www.ottogumaelius.com

-- SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS --

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African Marimba Workshops At Black Market & Film Festival

I had the pleasure of holding workshops at the Black Market & Film Festival in Tottenham. Here are a few pictures and videos from the day.

Marimba Band Wedding Entertainment: Louisa & Batsetswe

Congratulations to Louisa & Batsetswe on their union! It was a great pleasure entertaining their guests up in Chesterfield last night, and getting to share a few wedding songs from Botswana!

Africa Utopia

The Southbank is home to one of the greatest African festivals London has to offer - Africa Utopia! It's always a marvelous weekend of all things Africa - from food to fashion!

This year I had the great honour of getting to share my music at Africa Utopia. We performed a 45 minute set of marimba songs on the Sounds Under the Bridge stage. I went along with two of my Wednesday evening students, Susannah and Graham, who played on tenor and baritone marimba respectively, and my niece Sophia on drumkit.

Our set was made up of Shona and Tswana folk songs, as well as some of my own songs, such as Kenekelekae (Where Was I), and the music went down a treat. Here's a short clip of our final song of our set, Taive Gumi ne Vaviri (We Were Twelve).

Fête de la Musique in Paris

The 21st of June is World Music Day - and it's a day that's spectacularly celebrated in Paris as musicians flood the streets to share their music with the city. In France, the day goes by the name Fête de la Musique, and this year it was an absolute pleasure to join forces with ex Zimba Marimba Band musician, Fredrik Andersson, who has set up a marimba business in Paris called Kudzana Marimba. Anna Wolanska and Sophie Nilsson, also former Zimba Marimba Band members, came over as well from Sweden, and together we refreshed and revitalised all the old songs we used to play.

On the Wednesday of Fête de la Musique we did a total of three performance-workshop slots; all in the bustling Parisian suburb of Clichy. Our first slot was at Place des Martyrs, where we got to share our music with many young children who were eager to try it out themselves.

Marimba workshops with the young children of Clichy

We then packed up and headed to Café KAMU, where we did an hour slot and a short workshop, which at one point had to be paused as we came under attack by an onslaught of water guns! The cool water being squirted into the air would have otherwise been a lovely carefree moment, had we not had wooden instruments in front of us which are sensitive to water! But after a few quick wipe downs we were back on track!

Performing at Café KAMU

After our brief stop over at Café KAMU, we packed up and headed to our final stop for the day where we played our final set outside Café du Parc. We managed to draw quite a large crowd and everyone seemed to enjoy our southern African music! 

Final workshop for the day outside Café du Parc! 

We played a total of 7 hours and were quite glad to get home after an otherwise very successful day! We took it easy over the next two days and did a bit of sightseeing and hanging out. On our last night together in Paris we did one more show, at Le Coq Noir, a lovely African restaurant in Clichy.   

Delicious dinner at Le Coq Noir before our final performance

Below you can see a short video of our set up at Le Coq Noir. In the video, we're performing Gandanga, a song from Zimbabwe about the freedom fighters of the independence struggle. 

Our show at Le Coq Noir was the perfect end to a lovely week in Paris! Hopefully we'll be back next year to share more southern African marimba music!

For more information about marimba workshops in Paris, visit www.kudzanamarimba.com