Fresh from a tour of Germany, nyunga nyunga mbira maestro Taku Mafika and his band, Tru Bantu, lit up the newly-renovated Basement Nightclub recently with fresh beats from his upcoming album.
Wearing his trademark dashiki, the husky-voiced musician showed mastery of different genres of music stamping his signature nyunga nyunga tune as he sampled songs from his forthcoming album titled, Black to Colour.
The music on his new project, which is constructed using an eclectic selection of musical instruments, portray Mafika in a whole new light.
His lyricism touches on a wide range of issues, including, love, freedom and peace, but the ultimate beauty of his work lies in the precise manner in which he plucks the mbira keys and makes them sing.
A fervent crowd at the Basement Nightclub danced intensely for almost three hours as Mafika went through his musical repertoire with gusto and evident passion.
“I feel exhilarated to be home performing in the motherland and before an audience I know best. We’re making art with the mbira and taking it to a new level. All I can say is that I want to move to a whole, new international level with my music. The response, thus far, has been positive both locally and in the countries that I’ve performed in abroad,” said Mafika who is also a Unesco-Aspnet schools coordinator in Zimbabwe.
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While in Germany, Mafika said that he was involved in media competency and journalistic studies. He also performed at the internationally-acclaimed Intercultural Summer Party, a cultural festival that brought together change makers from around the world to promote intercultural learning.
Mafika reiterated the need for local artists to take advantage of new media networks to market their music.
“I am simply saying artists should be able to know how to use the Net because it brings the whole world into a single village.
“With the Net, the world is a click away. In the past Africa was regarded as a backward place, but because of the Net we’ve an equal opportunity with the rest of the world,” he added.