Ellington’s Sacred Concert at the Mannenberg
Filed under: Entertainment, Arts & Culture, Music & Dance
2008 MARKS 200 YEARS since American president Thomas Jefferson signed the bill abolishing the slave trade in 1808.
In 1965 jazz master Duke Ellington, himself descended from slaves and recognized as one of the most influential figures in jazz, was moved to write three massive works that combined elements of jazz, classical music, choral music, spirituals, gospel, blues and dance. He called them his “Sacred Concerts,” and they were performed in churches and cathedrals around the world. He said it was the most important thing he’d ever done.
Because of the scale of the music and the sheer number of artists needed to execute each work, Ellington’s sacred concerts have rarely been performed in the 30 years since his death in 1974. Read more
I pray
I pray for tomorrow,
Cause today is a day to forget,
Riddled with hurt and misfortune,
My spirit is restless and frail,
I pray that things get better,
And my tears stop falling like rain,
Unable to deal with the sadness,
That torments my soul everyday,
Antigone
Dear Friends
I have done a draft translation of Antigone into Shona.
Is there anyone with theatrical ambitions to help develop it further.?
Farai
To my dear brother
looking back in my mind’s eye
it’s all a haze now like a
flurry of feathers on a cloudy morning
the days we spent together
careening in the corridors of this life
are now lost and locked
in deep, dark sockets of time
and just outside you’re
entombed in the greatest
mother of all: earth Read more
Triumph against all odds is possible
“When I look at Mary McLeod Bethune, a Black Woman, who built a college at a time when even white men weren’t building colleges, I am inspired and reinforced. She actually came to buy a piece of land for the college with $1. 50 in her pocket and nothing but a dream, and an indomitable spirit and said upon that land she would raise an image and structure for Black people and contribute to the forward flow of human history.
“ When we see models like that, people who are outnumbered, surrounded, who have no idea of when this will end, but nevertheless taking a stand and standing for the future; when we see those things in history then we understand and are compelled to dare emulate and honour them” Read more
Thank God It’s Friday
These days, Fridays are not as ‘kicking’ as they used to be. However, Zimbos are ‘fun-loving’ people. Regardless of the escalating cost of the ‘wise waters’, and soft drinks, Zimbos just buy.
Go to any joint in Harare, check the number of people present…and buying. Talk of Mereki, Globe Trotter, Mtangaz, and the many clubs, bars, bottle stores and beerhalls. Zimbos love their ‘peace of mind’.
