MBIRA songstress MaNgwenya — as former urban grooves musician Diana Samkange is now known — yesterday said her performance at the Rotheram Carnival held in the United Kingdom on September 24 confirmed her as a top act in the music business.
BY LORRAINE MUROMO
MaNgwenya, who now calls herself a “spiritual counsellor,” told NewsDay that she felt honoured and proud to have taken her culture, through song, to the world.
She said the response to her performance by the audience was encouraging.
“My performance at the festival was magical. Of course, they didn’t understand my language, but they fell in love with the mbira, the Zimbabwean instrument, which I am proud of,” she said.
“This performance was definitely positive for my career and image because through such acts I get to achieve my dreams of performing on the international stage, which has always been my wishes.”
MaNgwenya said her decision to engage in yoga had also helped build her music career and her spirituality as a musician.
Yoga is generally regarded as a meditative means of achieving liberation and inner peace in a turmoil-ridden world.
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“Yoga, for me, is a group of physical, mental and spiritual practices, which have enhanced my everyday life. It enhances my spirituality in the sense that I get to meditate a lot and come to peace with different issues which come up in my life,” she said.
“MaNgwenya has something to do with traditional beliefs, as it is a totem, but as a spiritual counsellor, there is need to know different beliefs and cultures as well as to be able to understand different people in society.”
After discarding urban grooves, Samkange adopted “mature traditional music” with a fusion of mbira, she said, adding that MaNgwenya was her totem, which inspired her to represent Zimbabwean culture.
In July last year, Samkange was on record saying MaNgwenya was an alter ego that possessed her when on stage, just as Beyoncé transformed into Sasha Fierce on stage.
