Zimbabwean Music Festival 2000 was held on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene on August 18, 19 and 20, with pre-festival workshops August 16 and 17. We were so very proud to host some of Zimbabwe’s most treasured musicians, Julia (Tsitsi) Chigamba, Musekiwa Chingodza, Beauler Dyoko, Farai Gezi, Forward Kwenda, Cosmas Magaya, Sheasby Matiure, and Savannah Jammin’, who joined our U.S. Zimbabwean friends, Peter Masundire and Paul Mataruse, as part of our teaching staff.

Zimbabwean music students, performers, and fans flocked to the festival from all over North America. About 470 people attended workshops; over 200 stayed on campus in the dorms; and about 200 people performed at Zimfest.

During the mornings, we were treated to 15 cultural presentations exploring a wide variety of topics including: life stories of Zimbabwean musicians, the role of music in Shona ceremonies, healing aspects of mbira music, contemporary uses of marimba, and giving back to Zimbabwe. The festival also featured community discussions and a memorial to our dearly departed Dumi Maraire. During the afternoons, there were 81 hands-on workshops in mbira, marimba, singing, dance, drumming, hosho, chipendani, language, and other topics. The Zimbabwean Marketplace was full of activity. And afternoon and evening concerts featured an awesome lineup of 30 groups performing Zimbabwean music.

Below:
Guest Zimbabwean Teachers
Zimfest 2000 Planners

See also:
Zimfest 2000 Registration Guide (PDF; published April 12, 2000)
Festival 2000 Update (PDF; published June 19, 2000)
Zimfest 2000 Concerts
Zimfest 2000 Workshop Schedule

Guest Zimbabwean Teachers

	Julia (Tsitsi) Chigamba is a long time member of Mhembero, the Chigamba family dance and mbira ensemble. A native Zimbabwean and daughter of the highly respected Gwenyambira Tute Chigamba, she has grown up in the traditions of Shona music and dance. Julia amazed us with her beautiful and energetic dancing and hosho playing at Zimfest ’99, and she charmed us with her sweet personality. She was always ready to help out others in their performances with her strong hosho playing, dance, and singing. We were thrilled to have her back this year!
	Musekiwa Chingodza was born into a family of great mbira players in Mwangara village, Murewa, Zimbabwe, in 1970. He began playing mbira at the age of five and is self-taught. Through listening to other gwenyambira, or great mbira players, he developed a strong attachment to and love for mbira music. He says, “Our music is both medicine and food, as mbira has the power to heal and to provide for people. Mbira pleases both the living and the dead.” In 1991 Musekiwa was a key member of the band Panjea, founded by Chris Berry. He composed the hit song “Ganda” on Panjea’s Zimbabwean album. Currently Musekiwa teaches mbira at Prince Edward School in Harare. He is an excellent singer, dancer and drummer and plays both mbira dzavadzimu and nyunga nyunga. He has recently released his new CD with Jennifer Kyker, entitled “Tsunga.”
	Beauler Dyoko is one of the best known female mbira players and singers in Zimbabwe. She has performed with Mhuri yekwa Rwizi/Soul of Mbira groups and her own band for many years in Zimbabwe and throughout the world. She and her 10-member band have made several recordings. Beauler has been one of Erica Azim’s primary singing teachers. She is known to be a gracious and generous teacher.
	Farai Gezi is a graduate of the Kwanongoma College of African Music, and has taught both African and European music for the last 18 years. He is currently a music teacher at Groombridge School and at the German School in Harare. He runs a backyard marimba workshop, which is very popular with visiting marimba players, and he also runs the Harare Marimba Ensemble. He has many years experience in teaching both children and adults. Uncle Farai teaches the building and playing of marimbas, playing nyunga nyunga mbira, and helps new marimba groups take off. He also plays guitar, flute, and ngoma (drum).
	Forward Kwenda is one of the most respected mbira performers in Zimbabwe. He was given the name “Forward” because of his curiosity about many subjects and enthusiastic involvement in many activities. At the age of 14, Forward borrowed an mbira, and with no teacher other than occasional radio programs, began to play on his own. He later formed his own mbira group and began making records and performing. He was informed by powerful rain-making spirits that he was to devote his life to playing mbira for their ceremonies. Kwenda has received international acclaim for the virtuosity, soulfulness, and unprecedented range of melodic and rhythmic improvisation of his playing.
	Cosmas Magaya has been an avid student and player of mbira dzaVadzimu from the time he was eight, when he ‘pinched’ his cousin’s instrument for surreptitious study. Mr. Magaya is a master of the instrument, having studied with many great players. He has performed with the renowned Mhuri yekwa Rwizi mbira group for over 25 years, participating with them in concert tours of Europe and the US. He was instrumental in the writing of Paul Berliner’s The Soul of Mbira. Cosmas experienced both sides of Christian and Traditional lives as he grew up. His parents were married in the Roman Catholic Church, and his father is a renowned n’anga, or traditional healer, as well as a cultural expert of whom people from all walks of life frequently consult. A patient and articulate teacher, Cosmas especially enjoys teaching beginners.
	Peter Masundire grew up in Zimbabwe and has been giving individual tutorials in Shona language in Seattle since 1998. His lessons are based on the Zezuru Dialect of the Shona language.
	Paul Mataruse is from Zimbabwe, but he has been living and studying in North America for the past four years. Paul’s family lives in Harare but is originally from Bikita, in the south eastern province of Masvingo. Currently he is studying chemistry and economics at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, where he writes and edits for the student newspaper in his spare time. Paul has been playing marimba for 15 years and was taught by his father at the age of six. Paul has taught in schools in and around the Mashonaland West Province of Zimbabwe as well as in several primary schools in Harare from 1992 to 1995. This was his fourth appearance at Zimfest.
	Sheasby Matiure is a music lecturer at Seke Teacher Training College, just outside Harare. He has also acted as manager and artistic director of the Zimbabwe National Dance Company. Last year Mr. Matiure was an artist in residence with the International Vocal Ensemble at Indiana University, where he subsequently graduated with a M.A. degree in Ethnomusicology. Mr. Matiure is a highly respected musician, adept at playing mbira, ngoma, hosho and marimba, and at teaching choral singing. We greatly enjoyed meeting him at Zimfest ’99 and were very happy to have him back at Zimfest 2000.
(click to enlarge)	Savannah Jammin’ is a collaboration of musicians using acoustic traditional instruments of Africa, including mbira, marimba, hosho, djembe, and ngoma, along with singing and dancing to produce a sound with a contemporary rap/reggae flavor. Savannah Jammin’ is comprised of Jimmy Mhukayesango, Clayton Gunguwo, and Stuart McKay; and features the trio, Decent Gang, which is Julius Julius, Cornelius Saopa, and Richard McDonald. Jimmy Mhukayesango is director of the Savannah Arts Centre in Harare’s high density district of Mbare. Along with other members from various towns, he molded a theatre group, primarily composed of young people in Mbare. Savannah Arts has performed in original and collaborative theater and musical productions in Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the Reunion Islands.

Zimfest 2000 Planners

The planners of the 2000 festival are members of the Zimbabwean music community in Eugene, Oregon, including a few members of Eugene’s extended community of people in other locations. There were 16 volunteers in the core group of planners, but our larger committee included many other helpful hands and knowledgeable resource people. All levels of participation were welcome in the planning of this festival.

The core group of the planning committee included Maggie Donahue, Erin Ely, Scott English, Chris Halaska, Jerome Hobbs, Karen Howe, Marilyn Kolodziejczyk, Craig LaFollette, Kayte McDonald, Steve McGuire, Susan Niles, Jane Smith, Reed Smith, Lynne Swift, Susan Vogelsang, and Wanda Walker.

The broader community of Zimbabwean music players in North America extends a huge T H A N K   Y O U ! for your enormous effort creating an amazing festival for all of us.