It is National Storytelling Week this week here in the UK. One of my favourite African stories is Chamakanda, a tale from Zimbabwe which I came to know through my dear friend Peta Axelsson, narrated by the late mbira ethnomusicologist Ephat Mujuru. Happy National Storytelling Week!
About National Storytelling Week
The Society for Storytelling was founded in 1993 to support and promote storytelling in England and Wales. It provides a central place to find out about storytelling events, to ask for advice on using storytelling, about workshops to help you find your individual voice as a new storyteller and it is also the place to find other storytellers.
National Storytelling Week is an annual celebration of storytelling in the UK.
For more information about the Society for Storytelling, please visit: www.sfs.org.uk
On Saturday my band and I were invited to perform at Focus Africa’s Pop Brixton take over - a lovely day of African live music, workshops and DJs. I was invited to teach an mbira workshop, which ended up including a bit of a marimba and singing workshop too. My band, Otto & The Mutapa Calling, gave a performance as well.
Here are a few pictures and videos from the mbira workshop I gave on the day.
The workshop group playing the Zimbabwean kalimba (mbira nyunga nyunga) and singing along to a traditional Shona song from Zimbabwe called Chemutengure.
Last night I was invited to play a few songs on the mbira at this month’s edition of Exiled Writers Ink hosted at the Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden. It was a lovely evening of African poetry with contributors from Ethiopia, Congo and Zimbabwe to name but a few. I played one of my songs, Dineo, as well as two Shona folk songs from Zimbabwe - Zvichapera and Amai naBaba.
