TOWNSHIP jazz group Bulawayo Kwela Calabash will tomorrow invade Harare with a performance at Alliance Française. Report by Silence Charumbira Entertainment Reporter
In a statement this week, Nelly Sophia Mukwembi, cultural and communication officer AllianceFrançaise, said: “This genre has an authenticity which is a rare phenomenon today.
“It is rare in the sense that back then the musicians took time to learn and master the pennywhistle, and these music veterans, Bulawayo Kwela Calabash, play the instrument with such expertise, skill and passion that can only be described as exquisite.”
Bulawayo Kwela comprises Thompson Banda (pennywhistle) Marko Sithole (pennywhistle), Joyce Nkomo (vocals), Ramsey Kasawaya (vocals), John Gumbo (guitar), Killa Phiri (bass guitar), Charles Sibanda (drums) and Herbert Ndlovu (saxophone).
Bulawayo Kwela Calabash gained its popularity in the 1950s and 1960s regularly playing at beer gardens in the same city.
Their music is widely influenced by many groups and individuals such as Spokes Mashiane, Lemmy Special and many other bands, which originated from South African townships.
The group has over the years been playing in Bulawayo’s hot spot beer gardens like Madlodlo, Big Bhawa and Manwele, around Mzilikazi and Makokoba townships where Albert Nyathi encountered them and brought them to mainstream music through organising gigs for them in other cities. Nyathi performed with the group at the Harare International Festival of the Arts last year and tomorrow he is expected to join them on stage as guest artist.
Most of the members came from a group called Jazz Impacto, which used to perform with Paul Lunga, who is now based in the United Kingdom..
