THE princess of Mbira Hope Masike says she draws her inspiration from Côte d’Ivoire’s musician Dobet Gnahore.
OWN CORRESPONDENT
The mbira sensation revealed this on Monday in the run up to her performance in the Francophonie Week at Alliance Française on Saturday.
“In celebrating the Francophone week, here is a woman who has inspired me lots (sic). Dobet Gnahore is an exceptional musician from the Côte d’Ivoire who settled in Marseille, France in 1999,” she wrote on social network Facebook.
“She sings crazy; dances crazy, dresses crazy, and I love her work crazy. I shall be performing two of her songs for my concert this Saturday in celebration of the Francophonie Week. If I don’t break a leg at dance rehearsals, I shall dance crazy too! See you there!”
Masike is part of this year’s edition of the Francophonie Week which began on Monday and will be running until March 22 in Bulawayo and Harare.
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For the concert, Masike has engaged the services of sungura guitarist Frank Mavhimira.
“Frank Mavhimira joins my band for the Francophonie concert. We just found out there is very little Francophonie music without guitar and we love it when Frank joins the band,” she said.
Masike is known for her sizzling voice, exceptional mbira skills and her role in the popularisation of modern mbira music.
She earned the national accolade of Outstanding Female Musician for the National Arts Merit Awards 2013.