HARARE - Hope Masike and the band Kakuwe gave their farewell show on Tuesday before a month-long engagement of performances and workshops at the UBUNTU Festival in the Netherlands.Masike is also involved with the cultural exchange programme Umoja, which involves Norway, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
She performed vocals, mbira and dance with Umoja in Zimbabwe, Norway and Mozambique, where she saw that culture is very important; when you learn about the cultures of others, you realise your own is very, very special she said.
She has risen swiftly in the last year since she took over Book Cafs Tuesday mbira slot from Chiwoniso Maraire. On Thursday, the Book Caf extended a warm welcome to Rina Mushonga and the Mutare-based Zimfellas. Dutch-Zimbabwean singer-songwriter Mushonga returned to Zimbabwe last year to explore and connect with her musical heritage and to immerse herself in the Zimbabwean cultural scene. What she found was a group of talented young musicians carving their own niche in the local scene and equally searching for new musical horizons.
She and the Zimfellas have managed to find common ground and create an altogether vibrant new sound. Saturday at the Book Caf was time to meet Kessia Magosha, a gifted singer, lively dancer and great all-round entertainer. Magosha delivered a diverse repertoire including reggae, rock, funk and afropop covers, scattered with traditional folk songs in the ngano tradition, and a number of original compositions that have yet to reach the studio.