Marimba & Mbira Music From Southern Africa
Otto Gumaelius is a London based, Botswana raised, performing artist & teacher of southern African folk music on the marimba.
Last year our marimba duo had the honour of being part of the world premier of Shabnam Shabazi's performance installation, Terra Nullius, commissioned by Spill for The Spill Festival of Performance - an international festival of live art, activism and performance presenting the work of exceptional artists from around the globe.
Here's a lovely video by the Pacitti Company showing highlights from the evening.
I've spent the past two days up in Ipswich doing final preparations for, and performing in, this year's Spill Festival.
Our marimba duo formed one of several elements in the performance installation, Terra Nullius, curated by Shabnam Shabazi and presented inside the beautiful Ipswich museum.
We performed a non-stop 2 hour set which included marimba and mbira music - with both traditional songs as well as original compositions.
Fully kitted with our Terra Nullius red shirts in the incredibly cool room we got to play our African marimba music in.
We have just returned from a lovely couple of days in the Netherlands where we performed at the opening of Biennale Gelderland in the beautiful cultural centre, Rozet, in the heart of Arnhem.
We packed our marimbas in the back of a 9-seater mini bus on Thursday afternoon and headed for the Euro tunnel. 8 hours later we arrived in Arnhem with great thanks to our chauffeur for the journey, Paul Noels - who was also in the line up of performers for the following day.
We checked into our lovely bed and breakfast, and got what sleep we could before breakfast that morning. Later that afternoon we were picked up and headed to Rozet, to soundcheck and await the big opening that evening.
We went on at 7pm, and delivered an energetic set of Zimbabwean traditional songs - including Mugara Ndega, Manhanga Kutapira, Chemutengure and Zvichapera, as well as popular South African song, Pata Pata, by Miriam Makeba.
After the show, we were invited to a jam session in the restaurant in Rozet alongside all the other acts that had been invited to perform at the opening. This was great fun! We were joined by Vimbai Zimuto, a fantastic Zimbabwean musician who is based in the Netherlands.
Here's one of the songs we performed - Chemutengure - featuring Vimbai Zimuto.
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 their music shares the rich cultures, histories and stories of the people of southern Africa. Otto and The Mutapa Calling is a unique and colourful experience and is the only active professional marimba band of its kind in the United Kingdom.
www.ottogumaelius.com
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Follow on Instagram here
Listen on Spotify here
Watch on YouTube here
Our marimba band was invited to provide some southern African marimba entertainment at Fego Caffe in aid of a Save The Rhino fundraising initiative. We put together a repertoire of South African songs to cover with vocals and drumming.
Our set list ended up including songs by the late Miriam Makeba (Pata Pata / Click Song), the late Brenda Fassie (Weekend Special), Mahotella Queens (Thoko) and Solomon Linda (Mbube / The Lion Sleeps Tonight), as well as some of the more traditional Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu repertoire, including the wedding song uMakoti Ngowethu, a song celebrating the new bride and announcing her acceptance into the family; Mancube, a song about a woman who is using witchcraft; and Majola, a song used in traditional rituals imploring the ancestors to reveal themselves to help resolve matters within the family.
Here's a little showreel from the evening at Fego Caffe:
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 their music shares the rich cultures, histories and stories of the people of southern Africa. Otto and The Mutapa Calling is a unique and colourful experience and is the only active professional marimba band of its kind in the United Kingdom.
www.ottogumaelius.com
Like on Facebook here
Follow on Instagram here
Listen on Spotify here
Watch on YouTube here
The 27th of April, 1994, was the day the first democratic election was held in South Africa. Ever since, it's been a day of celebration, as South Africans mark the liberation of their country and its people from a long period of colonialism and apartheid.
We were really pleased to have been invited to perform at Acklam Village Market to commemorate Freedom Day with the South African community in London.
We gave the audience two sets of music. The first was a more traditional, drumming set, with singing and dancing, and included songs like Shosholoza and liberation struggle song, Oliver Tambo Theta NoBotha.
We then brought in the marimbas for our second set, which really got the crowd going. We covered Miriam Makeba, Brenda Fassie, Mahotella Queens and Beatenberg to name a few. The tunes went down a huge treat!
Here are some videos from the night.
South African Liberation song Oliver Tambo Tetha noBotha
Our marimba cover of Brenda Fassie's Weekend Special
Xhosa wedding song, Qongqothwane, made famous by Miriam Makeba and commonly known as Click Song
If you wish to read more on South Africa Freedom Day and what it's all about, you can find some more information here.
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 their music shares the rich cultures, histories and stories of the people of southern Africa. Otto and The Mutapa Calling is a unique and colourful experience and is the only active professional marimba band of its kind in the United Kingdom.
www.ottogumaelius.com
Like on Facebook here
Follow on Instagram here
Listen on Spotify here
Watch on YouTube here