BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
LOCAL Afro-fusion songbird and mbira player Hope Masike says she was thrilled to be chosen as part of a star-studded line-up of performers for Friday’s virtual international poetry and music concert.
The one-and-a-half-hour long concert dubbed Long Night of the Poets to be held in line with COVID-19 guidelines is part of the extended Africa Month colloquia with a focus on the youths.
It will be livestreamed from 8pm to 9:30pm on African Women Writers Network, Joburg Theatre and Current State of Poetry (Facebook pages) and on websites afroarts.co.za and joburglive.tv.
Masike will join 26 other renowned and emerging voices from South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Palestine, India and the United States.
In an interview with NewsDay Life & Style yesterday, Masike said the event was going to be a wonderful, soul-filling night of words and music.
“It is such a fantastic celebration of our human ability to benefit from the power of words. It is also such an alive and inspirational line-up and I am delighted to be sharing the stage, albeit virtually, with all these great names,” she said.
“I am looking forward to watching all these amazing artists such as Mutabaruka, because it’s Mutabaruka the great word sangoma and Hope Netshivambe, not just because she is my namesake, but because I love her work and her mantra ‘do what you came for, which speaks purpose’.”
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Masike said she would perform a song from her latest album The Exorcism of a Spinster.
“Because I could not travel, I will take the chance to record my performance here in Harare at a very gorgeous arts interactive space called Dzimbanhete. It exhibits the undeniable beauty of Zimbabwe and its weather, even in the current winter,” she said.
“I will choose a spot by a Tonga hut because I love two-storey houses and will perform the song Kune Mumwe from my third album called The Exorcism of a Spinster.”
Masike will share the virtual stage with the likes of Makhafula Vilakazi from Soweto, Diana Ferrus, Michael Weeder — the Dean of St Georges Cathedral in Cape Town, Vangile Gantsho, Sibulelo Manamatela, Siya Shezi from KwaZulu Natal, Tade Ipadeola from Nigeria, Mutabaruka from Jamaica, Meena Kandasamy from India to Tony award-winning poet and actor Beau Sia from the United States.
In a statement, Lovemore Tapfumaneyi of J T Communications Media said the concert would also feature collaborations with musicians, including Kamva — the string quartet, Pops Mohammed on the kora with friends, Siya Mthembu from The Brother Moves On, soulful singer Masike from Zimbabwe on the mbira, Kanyi Mavi and Easvesdrop young women making their mark on the Cape Flats local hip hop scene.
Afrikaans poet Piet Odendaal will also feature among the many other poets and musicians.
The multi-talented Masike who is also a fashion designer, painter and dancer started performing professionally in 2008 while she was still studying music at Zimbabwe College of Music.
In her music that has its roots in both traditional and modern African culture, Masike fuses Zimbabwean traditional instruments mbira, marimba, ngoma nehosho with bass, drums and guitar.
She is also the lead singer for transnational band Monoswezi.
- Follow Winstone on Twitter @widzoanto
