Category: Uncategorized

In this post, I’d like to share the equipment we used to capture video and audio for our documentary, in the hope that it might be helpful for similar projects. My main requirements were: Video Choosing a suitable camera proved surprisingly difficult. Many affordable camcorders or DSLRs still have proprietary battery packs (that also cannot…

This post is to wrap up our fundraising campaign for James Kamwaza’s Matepe in School initiative. We raised 625€ of our 800€ goal (about 78%). After deducting the fees, I received 603,60€ from GoFundMe and sent $600 to James via Mukuru in mid-December (already sent $20 before). Since then, James built three heras for the…

When it comes to mbira, few things have made me as happy recently as James Kamwaza‘s initiative to give hera (matepe) lessons to the children at his nearest school in Nyanhewe/Rushinga. With the exception of Mangoma’s own children, this is probably the only place in Zim+Moz where the matepe is taught to the next generation.…

A guest post by Ian Garrett. Having become an amateur mbira enthusiast over the past few years, I noticed that mbila deza, South Africa’s only surviving indigenous mbira (played by Venda and Lemba people) seems to be little known outside the Vhembe region of Limpopo province. In 2023, I assisted Stefan Franke to create a…

This post is not related to the matepe project, but certainly wouldn’t be here without it. In late 2022, Tatenda Cangola and I started the donation-funded project Visibility for Kalimba makers and players in rural Mozambique. For various reasons, including the matepe project, I had to take a longer break. Three weeks ago Leo Batuki…

Saturday night, Robert Machiri was DJing Rega kuchema hurombo from Chaka Chawasarira’s album-in-the-making at ifa-Galerie, at the finissage of their installation A SACRED STORY AT THE TREE OF LIFE: