Mukhambira
Quest for Knowledge as Solutions to Global Problems! Creativity is the Way!
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Mukhambira Stage Work
In Mukhambira stage has always been an important subject of research and, in general, of work. First and foremost, because it is on stage, as audience and as a performer, that our restlessness emerged, regarding the ongoing precarious developments of local musics.
Stage, in this case, a performance space in the most diverse kinds of contexts, platforms, and formats, is the final destination of musical performance. Alike, in a ritual or in a festival, music is supposed to reach the listener's sensibilities, and cause them to feel and feel and behave in a specific manner, as expected in that setup. In some cultures the audience/listener/target group are strictly humans, but in others, there can be other entities than just humans.
It is, therefore, on stage where, through my own observation and those provided to me by the audience, I assess the efficacy of my instruments, and subsequently, examine the validity of my hypothesis that traditional instruments:
1) Vastly unknown to the broader musical arena, provide new source materials, ideas and means that imprint new dynamics to the arts and sciences of music;
2) Can make music beyond their traditional confines, blending into other musical cultures, and deconstructing the concepts of the otherness still hindering musical sciences;
3) Provide ideas for construction of contemporary musical instruments.
Xizambi in a "new-contemporary" context.
"Unexpected affinities" is an expression used by Prof. Tiago Pinto, to describe first encounter successful experiences as the one here, of Xizambi performed with piano.
No Video Abaixo - In the Video Below:
Nao baste dizer que o Reggae tem raizes africanas. E preciso demonstrar as Raizes Africanas do Reggae, que ainda podem ser encontradas no nosso meio, entre os anciãos!
Eis aqui o exemplo!
Madala Nkovani playing a traditional tune, one of those that embed reggae. It touched the roots of my musicality, and straight away triggered my reggae instinct....
O Madala Nkovani tocou uma composição sua, no estilo musica tradicional do xitende. Uma daquelas musicas que embutem o reggae. Escutei com ética e espiritualidade, logo me foram reveladas as linhas de baixo, bateria, saxophone, e guitarra em um estilo que se pode chamar Reggae Africano. Estes elementos estão muito bem presentes no xitende; no som mais quieto e tranquilo, mas tambem frágil, impalpável como um arco-iria, cuja percepção e condicionada por ritual de encarnação, que inspira sensibilidade, de que Jah sempre nos dispõe, e, so temos que aceitar.
Rimani on mbvoko
Originally, I composed Rimani on mbira, using mbvoko only at the introduction. But then the introduction became a version of its own. That's what we hear here.
Jigijaga -No! to Organ trafficking!
It is the first time that Ndhondhoza, the box bass, is used on stage. Naturally, a new challenge! The sound technicians had to use sensibility and creativity to equalize and blend the instrument in the music.
Exploring the harmonics on the mbvoko
In the hotel room, a fine tuning and getting ready for the conert Ngoma Zetu, in December 2016, in Weimar Germany
And so, we celebrated Africa-Day in Weimar!
-Internationalizing the xitende!
We cannot keep locking instruments to traditional confines. It is now time that they break free, and help us dismantle the Divide and Rule borders, exploring their potentials beyond current horizons, thus, bridging cultures. This is the stage inauguration of this "microtonal?" (if the term helps the reader understand what I mean) xitende with a range of an octave and a third. Exploring the potentials of the xitende.
Luka -Mozambique- Xitende; Jordan -Australia -Guitar; Daniel -Colombia - Trombone , playing Xabonga Nkuluwamunhu, a composition of Luka.
Mbvoko -Luka, Ivan Mbira
-It is the core of Mukhambira in support of Festival Raiz, in its second edition.
When I first brought a mbira to Xilembeni, my home village, my mother exclaimed "Yhu! Uxikuma kwini lexi? Hilexi akuchaya b'ava!" meaning: .... where do you get this instrument? My father used to play it!
Anxjelina on mbira is my affirmation as a Mutsonga-Muchangani mbira player, unearthing and exploring Xangana-Ndawu-Shona cultural genealogy and bonds.
Anxjelina with full band
Taking the mbira beyond its comfort zone, the traditional borders, performing it with conventional instruments:
Luka -Mozambique -Mbira-Ndhondhoza; Jordan White-Australia -Guitar; Daniel Moreno -Colombia -Trombone, Alexander Korotkov -Russia -Double-bass.
The song, Tshiketa, in the celebration of Africa-Day, 25 May, in Weimar.
Africa Day Celebration
25 May 2019 at the C.Keller
