ed with much acclaim, the 22-year old Rute appeared at The Book Café on Saturday with backing group Jazz Sensation.
She graduated from Chipawo (Children’s Performing Arts Workshop) in 1998 and joined in the formation of the young group Another Tribe, before moving on to do backing vocals with popular Township Jazz musician Tanga wekwa Sando, with whom she gained much experience during studio work and live performances around the country.
Towards the end of 2003, she worked with the group Africa Revenge with whom she also recorded as backing vocalist. In 2004 she recorded an eight-track album with Jazz Sensation, entitled “If Only My Heart Had a Voice” which she composed, arranged and produced, followed by a second album in 2007 entitled “Rute goes Kumanginde”, another rich collection of what she calls ‘afro-trad-jazz’ originals, which are proving very popular with Harare music-lovers.
Backing group Jazz Sensation who are not newcomers to the jazz scene, comprises Lloyd Chidikano (drums), Steve Mapasure (keyboard), Owen Shamu (Bass guitar), Pablo Nakapa (lead guitar), Tito Shoshore (percussion), Linda Magorimbo (backing vocalist) and Kent Chipembere (sound engineer).
Rute and Jazz Sensation were the only Zimbabwean group invited to the prestigious Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Festival held in July 2007 in Grahamstown, South Africa, where she was well received and labelled “Zimbabwe’s own Miriam Makeba” – high praise for a young African jazz singer. The South African performance is already bearing fruits with talks in the pipeline to collaborate with SA-based artists in as yet unnamed projects. Rute also participated in a recent FLAME workshop by Pamberi Trust, where emerging female artists met with established divas to explore and discuss various issues related to women performing in the arts, including practical aspects like stagecraft, roles in the band, image, publicity and discipline, and addressing sensitive issue of working with artists living with Aids.
Penny Yon, project officer for the FLAME project, said “Rute embodies hope for the future of Zimbabwean women artists; in a time of uncertainty in the industry, she has forged ahead strongly, working hard and employing a highly professional outlook which has earned the respect of other players in the industry, and is already paving the way to acclaim in the country and further. Her delivery is strong and true, and her professional behaviour a credit to women of Zimbabwe”.
Post published in: Arts