NOBUNTU DEBUTS IN HARARE

This International Women’s Day on Saturday 8 March, Pamberi Trust, the Book Café and audiences of Harare extend a warm welcome to Bulawayo’s ‘NOBUNTU’ – a spirited acapella group of five beautiful young women, making their debut in the Zimbabwean capital. 
 
Nobuntu are to feature at the International WOMEN’S DAY CONCERT from 8pm, celebrating some of our country’s best and dearest women’s voices, alongside afro-jazz-fusion with PRUDENCE KATOMENI and RUTE MBANGWA, in an exciting performance to celebrate the special day which is being recognized in countries throughout the world.
 
The name ‘Nobuntu’ is an African concept that values humbleness, love, purpose, unity and family, from a woman’s perspective.  The five talented young women present an exciting fusion of traditional Zimbabwean-rooted music, afro jazz, gospel and crossovers – celebrating through song and dance their identity as African women.  Nobuntu represent a new generation of Zimbabwean women who celebrate and preserve their culture, beauty and heritage through the arts.

Formed in 2011, the group believe that music is the most important and original wheel of change, with the ability to transcend racial, trial, religious, gender and economic boundaries.  The purity of their voices and energy on stage communicates with the ‘human side’ of everyone, and the urban culture and lifestyle publication Deck Magazine described it as “something about their music which makes one’s soul smile”. 

 

In a 2013 interview with the Financial Gazette founding member Duduzile Sibanda said: “Our vision is to see an interracial world where everyone knows each other’s culture and appreciates it; a peaceful world that has love and harmony.”
 
Since the release of their debut album ‘THINA’ in 2013, Nobuntu has been performing widely in the ‘City of Kings’ (and Queens!), participating in the Bulawayo Culture festival, Roots Festival, Bulawayo Comes Alive Festival – among others.  The have already ventured beyond Zimbabwe’s borders, with a one-month tour of Austria and Germany, playing in concert halls, theatres and festivals including “Voice Mania” in Vienna and “Trans--‐Vocal” in Frankfurt.  The group is excited about their first performance in Harare, and ready to deliver!
 

NOBUNTU

Headliners for the final show featuring Nobuntu on Saturday 8 March at Book Café are PRUDENCE KATOMENI – darling of stage and screen in Zimbabwe, with a rich and long-running career in the arts since childhood, dabbling in film and establishing a solid reputation as a highly skilled and gifted jazz deliverer who has performed with many of southern Africa’s great artists, and is now a household name in Zimbabwe.  Prudence is joined on stage for this occasion by RUTE MBANGWA – another delightful afrojazz singer who has performed at the Book Café many times in the past few years, and been a strong participant of  Pamberi Trust’s FLAME programme.
 
The IWD events at Book Café will also honour the upcoming work of researcher and writer JOYCE JENJE MAKWENDA, and her upcoming book “Women Musicians of Zimbabwe 1930s-2013: A Struggle for Voice and Artistic Expression” – the first documentation of its kind.

 

International Women’s Day celebrations at Book Café are presented by arts development organisation Pamberi Trust’s gender programme FLAME, working with artists and partners to bring women artists into the mainstream of the arts in Zimbabwe. Pamberi Trust programmes are funded in part by Hivos, Africalia and the EU, among others, and the organisation enjoys strong links with artists of Bulawayo.

 

 

Sistaz Celebrate International Women's Day

This Saturday 8 March, Zimbabweans will be gathering at Book Café on 139 S.Machel Avenue to celebrate International Women’s Day in several activities to mark the day under the global theme ‘Inspiring Change’, with women leading the way – on stage, off stage, managing the production and behind the camera. 

 

The programme for this Women’s Day includes the popular SISTAZ OPEN MIC afternoon event from 2-5pm, followed by an evening concert from 8pm featuring two of Zimbabwe’s much-loved singer-songwriters, PRUDENCE KATOMENI and RUTE MBANGWA, and welcoming for the first time, the women’s acappella group ‘NOBUNTU’ from Bulawayo.

 

International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made towards women’s empowerment, to call for change where women are disadvantaged, and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.

 

Pamberi Trust, the vibrant arts development organisation in Harare, established its gender programme FLAME (Female Literary, Arts & Music Enterprise) in 2006, working with hundreds of women artists over the years to bring women into the mainstream of the arts in Zimbabwe, with many success stories to date, through the staging of events including the annual International Women’s Day and ‘16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women’.

 

The day’s activities start at 11am with a ‘WEIGH-IN PARTY’ – Inspirational networking on Women’s Health with the ‘Dwelling Place Motivational Hub’ who encourage Zimbabwean women to “Be the best person you can be: gain control of your body by exercising and eating right, in line with this year’s Women’s Day theme “Inspiring Change”. The event is free and all people are welcome.
 
SISTAZ OPEN MIC opens from 2pm at Book Café on Saturday 8 March, and this month hosts for the first time ever, an hour of ‘WOMAN Scream, Zimbabwe, 2014’, with comedians, poets, visual artists, and fashion designers meeting to celebrate just being women. This segment will feature the work of poets Aura Mlilo, Tinashe Tafirenyika, Peggie Umind Shangwa, Sister Zai, Batsirai E Chigama, Tarie Kay, comedy from Kessia Magosha, and music from Brezhnev Guveya, Caroleen Masawi and Blessing Chimanga.  The main stage of the venue will carry art & design by visual artist Christine Ndoro and fashion designer Sabina Mutsvati.

 

The ‘Woman Scream’ Festival is celebrated in commemoration of the importance of women’s role in society, and also serves as a platform for talented poetess all over the world who collaborate inside and outside the movement. Woman Scream holds the important mission of using art and poetry with a social purpose: Sending messages of non-violence against women. Zimbabwean women artists join in solidarity under the FLAME banner.

The Open Mic then continues from 3-5pm with dance, music, poetry and much more. Our guests for this month are Maria Vera Chisvo & Macy & The Reds.  Established artists who continually lend their support to the FLAME programme and who are expected to be there, include Dudu Manhenga and Edith Katiji, among others.

Maria Vera Chisvo

“It’s always a fun event full of surprises”, said Rudo Chakanyuka, Pamberi Trust multimedia officer and FLAME project member who manages the stage for the event. “You never know who will pitch up on the day, and some of the performances are so spontaneous, sparking new fires.  No two Sistaz Open mic events are alike, it’s never the same as the last, and even after 7 years, there is always something new!” she said.

 
From 5-8pm, the Book Café’s leafy Gochi-gochi Garden DJ will be spinning the music of Zimbabwean women who have launched albums in the past year, including the CD ‘Ndoita Sei?’ by Tina Watyoka which was just launched at Book Café on 27 February, Edith Katiji’s ‘Kwacha!’,  new material from hiphop emcee ‘Blackbyrd’, tracks by the swifly rising Ammara Brown, newcomer Pah Chihera with the hit song ‘Runonzi Rudo’, Selmor Mtukudzi with ‘Expressions’ – and many more. 
 
“The garden sundowner session pays tribute to the work of these artists with this special platform for exposure, and provides a wonderful space to chill-out and refresh between the two main events, with women’s voices rolling throughout”, said Penny Yon, another FLAME team member and arts administrator for Pamberi Trust
 
The final WOMEN’S DAY CONCERT starts at 8pm, celebrating some of our countries best and dearest women’s voices, opening with a Harare-debut performance of the women’s acappella group ‘NOBUNTU’ all the way from the City of Kings (and Queens!) – Bulawayo.  The name ‘Nobuntu’ is an African concept that values humbleness, love, purpose, unity and family from a woman’s perspective.  The five talented young women present an exciting fusion of traditional Zimbabwean-rooted music, afro jazz, gospel and crossovers – a new generation of Zimbabwean women who celebrate and preserve their culture, beauty and heritage through song.  Formed in 2011, the group believe that music is the most important and original wheel of change, with the ability to transcend racial, trial, religious, gender and economic boundaries.  The purity of their voices and energy on stage communicates with the ‘human side’ of everyone.  Deck Magazine described it as “something about their music which makes one’s soul smile”.  Since the release of their debut album THINA in 2013, Nobuntu has already conducted a one-month tour of Austria and Germany.  The group is excited about their first performance in the capital, and are ready to deliver!

NOBUNTU

Headliners for the final show of Sat 8 March are PRUDENCE KATOMENI – darling of stage and screen in Zimbabwe, with a rich and long-running career in the arts since childhood, dabbling in film and establishing a solid reputation as a highly skilled and gifted jazz deliverer who has performed with many of southern Africa’s great artists, and is now a household name in Zimbabwe.  Prudence is joined on stage for this occasion by RUTE MBANGWA – another delightful afrojazz singer who has performed at the Book Café many times in the past few years, and been a strong participant of the FLAME programme.

Rute Mbangwa & Prudence Katomeni

The IWD events at Book Café will also honour the upcoming work of researcher and writer JOYCE JENJE MAKWENDA, and her upcoming book “Women musician of Zimbabwe 1930s-2013: A Struggle for Voice and Artistic Expression” – the first documentation of its kind.
 

Pamberi Trust development programmes are funded by Africalia, Hivos and the EU among others, and it's present Board of Trustees is well gender-balanced, including four highly respected women who have made a strong contribution to the development of the arts industry in Zimbabwe - Jackie Cahi, Virginia Phiri, Dudu Manhenga and Petina Gappah.
 

ABOUT IWD
The United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March during International Women’s Year 1975. Two years later, in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions.
International Women’s Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe. Since those early years, International Women’s Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women’s movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women’s conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women’s rights and participation in the political and economic arenas.

Increasingly, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.  For more on International Women' s Day, go here.

 

 International Women's Day 2014 Theme: INSPIRING CHANGE

Women's equality has made positive gains but the world is still unequal. International Women's Day celebrates the social, political and economic achievements of women while focusing world attention on areas requiring further action.

Inspiring Change is the 2014 theme for our internationalwomensday.com global hub and encourages advocacy for women's advancement everywhere in every way. It calls for challenging the status quo for women's equality and vigilance inspiring positive change.

The vast array of communication channels, supportive spokespeople, equality research, campaigns and corporate responsibility initiatives means everyone can be an advocate inspiring change for women's advancement.

Each year International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. The first International Women's Day was held in 1911. Thousands of events occur to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women. Organisations, governments, charities, educational institutions, women's groups, corporations and the media celebrate the day.
 

Sistaz Open Mic joins women across the globe in ‘One Billion Rising’

OPEN MIC Sat 8 Feb  |  EXHIBITION Tue 11 Feb  |  DISCUSSION Thu 13 Feb 2014
ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE is a global call to women survivors of violence to break the silence and release their stories – politically, spiritually, outrageously – through art, dance, marches, ritual, song, spoken word, testimonies and “whatever way feels right”.  For the first of a series of events at Harare’s Book Café, SISTAZ OPEN MIC on Saturday 8 February invites women artists of Zimbabwe to get involved by coming forward to “Claim your space and do your thing: Music, Poetry, Comedy, Dance, Theatre – Whatever!”    
‘One Billion Rising’ was the biggest mass action in human history.  The campaign began as a call to action based on the staggering UN statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS.
Last year on 14 February, people across the world came together in over 10,000 events to strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women.

In Harare this week, the FLAME gender project by Harare’s leading arts development organisation Pamberi Trust - which has seen the emergence and growth of hundreds of artists - partners with One Billion Rising Zimbabwe to extend the global call to people of Harare in a series of events dedicated to the cause, leading up to 14 February, its internationally recognized day:

Sat 08 Feb, 2-5pm, SISTAZ OPEN MIC – ‘SISTERS RISING FOR JUSTICE’

At Sistaz Open Mic on Saturday 8 February from 2-5pm, Harare women artists pave the way for the global campaign ONE BILLION RISING, a call to women survivors of violence to break the silence and release their stories – “politically, spiritually, outrageously – through art, dance, marches, ritual, song, spoken word, testimonies and whatever way feels right”.  Special guests include Selmor Mtukudzi from 5.30pm, swiftly rising singer-songwriter (who will also perform at Book Café on 14 February).  

 

The popular monthly platform at Book Café is a protected space for young women artists to participate in the arts in the safety of daytime, and regularly features around 30 artists, both emerging and established, who bring a diverse programme of entertainment to the table, spiced with themes around issues which affect their lives, including gender emancipation and empowerment.  Women artists have claimed the platform as their own, and several success stories have grown from it.  As advertised, “Sisters, this is your space, come and claim it:  Music, Dance, Poetry, Comedy – whatever!”- cc $1

 
Tue 11 Feb, EXHIBITION: ‘ONE BILLION RISING’ - 11-15 February 2014
‘EXTRACTS: FROM A TIME TO A PLACE’ features a photographic collection of different risings the world over, and artwork by CHRISTINE NDORO, NOMPILO NKOMO and CATHERINE MAKAYA.  Included are extracts from Christine’s exhibitions, ‘This Woman’s Work’ and ‘Memories of Peace’, and some pieces which have not yet been seen.  Christine rises by holding on to hope of a world where love just ‘is’.  The exhibition also features work from NOMPILO NKOMO, a happy, spirited young woman with malformed hands who paints with her feet, and who believes that ‘everything under the sun is possible if we believe.'  The third exhibitor is young, jubilant artist CATHERINE MAKAYA, who has something that needs to be said about the world she lives in, and the woman she is rising to be.  FREE, ALL WELCOME.
 

Thu 13 Feb, 5.30pm, Book Café Gender Forum discussion:

‘ONE BILLION RISING: The State of Female Justice in Zimbabwe: Reflections on justice issues for women in Zimbabwe’ – The free public discussion will be looking at gaps in the justice system and women’s access to justice in wake of abuse; and how communities can actively engage stakeholders in ensuring that survivors of violence can access justice timely.  Panelists are women’s rights activists Tendai Garwe, Tariro Tandi, and Nyasha Sengayi (OBR Zimbabwe Coordinator), chaired by Cleo Ndlovu.  Supported by OBR Zimbabwe.  FREE, ALL WELCOME.

 
These events are presented by One Billion Rising Zimbabwe in partnership with the FLAME gender project by Harare’s leading arts development organisation Pamberi Trust.  Each year FLAME presents exciting programmes for International Women’s Day and 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, with regular Gender Forum discussions and many artistic performances and workshops through the year. 
 
Pamberi Trust receives core programme support from Hivos, Africalia and the European Union, among other event-specific partner organisations who employ the arts for information dissemination and peace-building.

ABOUT ONE BILLION RISING

ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE is a global call to women survivors of violence and those who love them to gather safely in community outside places where they are entitled to justice – courthouses, police stations, government offices, school administration buildings, work places, sites of environmental injustice, military courts, embassies, places of worship, homes, or simply public gathering places where women deserve to feel safe but too often do not.  It is a call to survivors to break the silence and release their stories – politically, spiritually, outrageously – through art, dance, marches, ritual, song, spoken word, testimonies and whatever way feels right.

Our stories have been buried, denied, erased, altered, and minimized by patriarchal systems that allow impunity to reign. Justice begins when we speak, release, and acknowledge the truth in solidarity and community. ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE is an invitation to break free from confinement, obligation, shame, guilt, grief, pain, humiliation, rage, and bondage.

The campaign is a recognition that we cannot end violence against women without looking at the intersection of poverty, racism, war, the plunder of the environment, capitalism, imperialism, and patriarchy. Impunity lives at the heart of these interlocking forces.

One Billion Rising was the biggest mass action in human history.  The campaign began as a call to action based on the staggering UN statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS.  On 14 February 2013, people across the world came together to strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women.

Over 10,000 events took place on the ground and the campaign took over media and social media worldwide for 48 hours, trending in 7 countries – 4x in the US alone.  The wildly successful grassroots campaign was covered widely by media in all corners of world including The New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, and many more.
Find out more about the campaign at http://www.onebillionrising.org/about/campaign.
ENDS