Habana Sax to Perform in Zimbabwe
Live Latin Jazz from Cuba!
By Pamberi Trust
Habana Sax – a 5-piece Cuban jazz band featuring four incredible saxophones and one astonishing percussionist, “a Cuba you’ve never heard”, are pit-stopping in Harare Courtesy of Alliance Francaise and the Cuban Embassy, as part of a worldwide tour.
Music-lovers of the capital are in for a great treat with a single performance by the group at The Mannenberg Jazz Club on Tuesday 17 June, from 6.30-8pm.
The website www.myspace.com/habanasax reveals that the group is “an outstanding mix of classical and contemporary music expressions like jazz and funk, hip-hop and rap with traditional Cuban music, especially Afro-Cuban rhythms”.
Their performance reviewed by Paul Rapp in New York as “…one of the most extraordinary and unique musical groups in the world… new music in every sense of the phrase; they are at once uncompromising, fascinating, rigorous and entertaining. They gave a virtuosic, exhausting and triumphant performance from start to finish.”
Habana Sax are brought to Zimbabwe by Alliance Francaise, who are strong promoters of culture throughout the world, and not only French culture. The Cuban group has already been hosted in many countries by the Alliance Francaise, which engages and works with artists of diverse origins, and have brought many excellent artists to the Zimbabwean people over the years.
Jazz also has a fascinating history in Zimbabwe. Since the 1960s Zimbabwe has made notable contributions to jazz development in Africa. Louis Armstrong visited in November 1960 and later produced the second version of the song “Skokiaan”. Since then Zimbabwe has a continuous record of jazz development, from such luminaries as Dorothy Masuku, drummer Jethro Shasha and guitarist Louis Mhlanga who achieved international acclaim years ago, to fine young jazz artists now emerging onto the world stage such as Sam Mataure, Prudence Katomene-Mbofana, Dudu Manhenga and Miriam Mandipira, and the many musicians who work with them. Their Zimbabwean touch greatly influences the genre loosely termed ‘afro jazz’ in the world.
The Jazz Appreciation Society at The Mannenberg is a Pamberi Trust project supported by the W.K.Kellogg Foundation, designed to stimulate knowledge and interest in jazz, and to forge links with international jazz.
In February 2008, The Mannenberg hosted the Ryan Cohan Quartet from Chicago, courtesy of the US Public Affairs Section, which also currently offers weekly free screenings at The Mannenberg of the fascinating 10-part video documentary series ‘Jazz’ by Ken Burns, with an 8-part series on the Blues to follow.
Pamberi Trust project officer Penny Yon said “Zimbabwean people have embraced many genres of music from around the world with a special love for the rhumba and popular ‘kwasakwasa’ styles of West Africa, and will definitely embrace the music of Cuba. We are wildly excited about this unique opportunity and warmly welcome Habana Sax to our country, and our stage.”
Advance tickets are available from the Alliance Francaise and The Mannenberg/Book Café office. Tickets are limited and Jazz-lovers are advised to get in early.
HABANA SAX AT THE MANNENBURG: TUESDAY 17 JUNE 2008, 6.30 PM PROMPT
Written by fungaijames on June 10th, 2008 with
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