Women In Arts In Zimbabwe: August 2012

Thursday 30 August 2012

EDITH LOOKS EAST (AFRICA)

Farewell show, Thu 30 August, 8pm

Book Café, 139 S.Machel Ave / 6^th Street, Harare

Book Café is proud to present an exciting new double-bill for music-lovers of Harare – EDITH weUTONGA, back-to-back with MANNEX & Mo Family – on Thursday 30 August.

Rising strongly on the Zimbabwe music scene, both artists are performing widely, busy in the studio, and gaining huge ground in popularity, winning audiences with authentic, original, home-grown afro and reggae, with a distinctly Zimbabwean flavour.

Between a hectic schedule of music performances and her complementary acting career, band leader and bass player Edith Katiji moves out and northwards on a short regional tour, and the Thursday 30 August performance is by way of a farewell for fans and well-wishers. The tour will include appearances at the Blankets & Wine’ Festival in Nairobi, Kenya, where she will also take part in music workshops, a performance in Kenya’s coastal city Mombasa in cooperation with Alliance Francaise, and further to Kampala, Uganda.

After encouragement from several years participation in Pamberi Trust’s FLAME programme (Female Literary, Arts & Music Enterprise) in Harare “for women artists by women artists” where self-reliance and self-promotion is an important goal, Edith released her debut album UTONGA in 2010. Edith’s East African connection is a result of good communication, courage, confidence and contacts online, where she introduced herself and her music to East Africans via the internet – and was well received.

Meanwhile, former Transit Crew frontman Mannex Motsi is going from strength to strength, with his own unique reggae style and a growing fan base, now featuring music from his brand new album launched in Harare last week to much acclaim.

Thu 30 August promises to be a red-hot double bill – not to be missed!

By Penny Yon

Pamberi Trust

Thursday 16 August 2012

Workshop for Women Artists by Women Artists

FLAME in partnership with Chimanimani Arts Festival held a workshop for women artists on the 10th of Aug, 2012. FLAME facilitators, Aura Kawanzaruwa and Theresa Muchemwa traveled to Chimanimani Arts Festival to facilitate the workshop covering the following topics:

Image & Stagecraft – Aura

Dealing with Audiences, Musicians and Cast/Crews – Theresa Muchemwa

Cherry Factor, Internet & Publicity – Aura

HIV/AIDS & the Artist – Theresa Muchemwa

Q & A

FLAME runs a series of Workshops for established and emerging women artists, collectively entitled “Workshops For Women Artists By Women Artists", in which experienced professional women artists tackle key issues in the industry with emerging women artists. Topics usually include Stagecraft, Professionalism/Discipline, Roles in a Band, Understanding the PA System, Copyright issues, Publicity and the Internet, and an open discussion on HIV/Aids focusing on the social responsibility of the song-writer or performer.

On evaluation, comparing with the first of these provincial workshops held in Bulawayo during Intwasa Arts Festival last year it appears each province has it's on set of challenges dependent evidently on how much exposure the artists have to performance and training opportunities.

Theresa Muchemwa, Aura Kawanzaruwa & Chido Musasiwa

Chido Musasiwa, Petronella Matanga, Fungisai Mundieta

Tsitsi Chimwero, Petronella Mutanga

Participants Group Photo

Many thanks to the facilitators who endured the long journey with breakdowns and buses running out of fuel along the way - chicken bus chronicles. The second of it's kind, FLAME Provincial workshops were made possible by the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe Trust.