An unforgettable intimate night with Hope

May 13, 2009 by ruzvidzo mupfudza ·
Filed under: Events, Music & Dance, Zimbos who rock

Hope Masike performs at HIFA 2009

We went. We saw. We were enthralled. Hope Masike neKakuwe’s launch of their debut album was a thrilling experience and helped remind all in attendance that a truly remarkable talent is being born in our midst. The album, simply called Hope, was launched on Friday evening at the Delta Gallery Amphitheatre in Harare on Friday, 8 May 2009 in one of the most well- thought out, creative and well- organised functions by a local artiste.

That Masike had invested her passion and enthusiasm into the occasion was obvious right from the entrance leading into the Delta Gallery premises. On hand to welcome guests with audacious fire eating and juggling antics was a gifted performer whose offering was harbinger of the general ambiance of the whole evening. Spectacle and creative genius were on hand. The pathway was imaginatively lit with a transcendal glow from candles in coloured holders, as if they ethereal lanterns welcoming guests to another world, an enchanting world full of charm and wonder.

This enthralling theme of charm and magic was carried on the amphitheatre itself where the surprisingly huge multi- racial audience who had come to bear witness to what many of us have known all along, Hope Masike neKakuwe are no fly- by night artistes. Rather this eclectic young band is made up of a rare breed of gifted, committed and passionate music virtuosos destined to take their craft to dizzy heights both at home and abroad.

Derek Huggins, the proprietor and founder of Delta Gallery intimated as much in his introductory remarks. Huggins told the audience that about a month or so ago, young Masike had come to him and told her that she was looking for place to launch her debut album and she felt the gallery provided the right ambiance she was looking for. Huggins listened to the feisty young woman and promptly arranged an audition in which he and a handful of others sampled Masike’s talents. The verdict was unanimous. Here was a talent not only worth watching out for but promoting and supporting.

The venue having been clinched young Masike, a recent graduate of the Zimbabwe College of Music Ethnomusicology programme, went full throttle into organising the event. Like many artistes in Zimbabwe, Masike has negotiate survival in the precarious arts industry by not only practising her craft but supplementing the earnings so garnered. So apart from earning a living from not only the Kakuwe regular Tuesday night slot at the Book Café, and taking gigs as they come along, she is also teaching marimba to enthusiastic students at a private school in Harare.

Making the function a success was therefore always going to be financially and emotionally challenging especially given the kind of the economic morass the country is painfully trying to emerge from. But being the feisty and iron- willed visionary that she is, Masike was up to the task. She roped in the support of her family and together they financed everything, right up to the tasty eats and drinks that we consumed after the official launch programme just as voraciously as we had consumed her performance.

The performance itself was vintage and showed how Masike and the band have been growing and maturing over time. After Huggins’ introduction, first to step into the arena were Elisha Herema, Kakuwe’s bass wizard and Theresa Muteta, a gifted recorder player and dancer- she can play hosho and drums with an enrapturing flair as well. For that opening act, she took up a Rainstick, an Aborigine percussion instrument, and the Dreamtime cascading sound married to the throbbing bass was enchanting. So the pulsating melodies of Herema’s bass guitar, the hauntingly sweet magical notes of the Rainstick that were coming from Muteta’s hand, like a holy musical incense, wafted and throbbed through the auditorium. The duo looked resplendent, with Herema in a loose- fitting dashiki- like white outfit, and the petite Muteta in a flowing white gown. Then from offstage, like a trilling siren call, evocative, low, but magically powerful came an even more hauntingly sweet voice as Masike began to sing the opening song, “Nalimite Mwa.”

Then, like an otherworldly being, a nymph stepping out of cool waters, Masike, also in a flowing white gown, stepped onto the stage, commanding it with her presence and remarkable voice control. The diva had arrived. She was sensational. Initially, just the three of them, the magic of the instruments and Masike’s voice had the audience enraptured. The applause when they were done was thunderous. Then Masike introduced herself and told the audience: “You are going to enjoy the show, whether you like us or not, whether you know us or not.”

And after that searing opening, she stole the audience’s hearts again with her endearing charm and warmth. Her rapport with the audience was engaged and engaging, intimate and endearing, as she stood out there, dressed in flowing white like a yesteryear nymph- goddess reincarnated. She told the audience how “Nalimite Mwa” is a song in Bemba which says, “Lord I love you, I give everything unto you” and how over time it has become their opening prayer, wherever and whenever they play. The audience sighed and cheered. Masike had them eating out of her hands.

Then the other band members, all in white, came in as Masike introduced them: the marimba maestro, Songwe Limbikani; the Dance Foundation product and, on the night, brilliantly on conga, Blessed Rukweza and, gracing the occasion with his inspired djembe- playing skills was guest musician, Dunmore Sengere. The band showcased their vocal talents by doing an acapella version of the song “Mbudzi Dzaenda naJeremiah”- where exactly this chap took the poor beasts to, we will never know, but what we do know for certain, is that the vocal range and power of the artistes took us to ecstasy and back. They are masters of that greatest instrument of them all- the human voice. And to show their appreciation, the ever-imaginative Harare audience, with its flair for improvisation, took up the lament; singing the refrain along with Masike neKakuwe.

By the now the connection between Masike and the audience on one hand, the band and the audience on the other, was sealed. Just as Masike had promised, the audience had no option but enjoy their sizzling performance whether they knew Kakuwe or not- whether they liked them or not. “Kana Ndinewe” was another evocative piece in their set, and also found on the album, Hope. Masike later explained that the lyrics talk about how when one is with God, all things are possible no matter the obstacles along the way. But so deep and enthralling are the lyrics and message, that the song can also be interpreted as a classic love song in the making- after all, is not God love, and our love for our loved ones inspiring and an expression of all things godly in us?

Limbikani does to the marimba what Macheso does to the bass guitar. Creates tapestries of wondrous sounds and performs glorious feats many would never imagine possible with the most unlikely of instruments. Limbikani is probably the only marimba player I know who can play wizard- like riffs on the instrument in manner reminiscent of the demented genius that was Jimi Hendrix with the guitar. Later, Masike told us that Limbikani, as a young boy, had asked his father to buy him a set of marimba so that he could learn to play. Like many fathers of his time the older Limbikani thought this was nothing but tomfoolery that would keep his son from pursuing his academic studies, and gave an emphatic no. But Songwe was undaunted, improvised by taking bricks with holes and began to learn to play marimba riffs on them. The rest, as all who have watched and listened to him play know, is magical history.

The magic of marimba, congas, the djembe, recorder and Masike’s own divine Nyunganyunga playing was inescapable. Their power and glory was magnificent, even when they did a Mozambiquean song called, “Tufu”. Then came “Dziva Rerudo”, in which Limbikani drove the audience wild with his marimba riffs, and became an ocean of searing talent. Although the song talks about a love and marriage on the rocks, a wilderness after the heady days of immense, ocean- like, love, as the male partner goes the ubiquitous route of many a Zimbabwean man not on talking terms with their conscience and morality- the unashamed destructive pursuit of the small house- Masike ‘s message is loud and clear: stop, in the name of love and decency, small houses simply aint right!

The dance routines by Masike and Muteta were a joy to watch, captivating and dynamic. Masike’s interpretation and rendition of “Hondo’ was succulent, full of an angelic sweetness. Her version borrows from the traditional song of the same title and a version done by Netsai Mapfumo, but with her own input- and in her hands- it became a totally new jazzy song, full emotion and a passionate lament about the ugliness of war. Another song of Mozambiquean origins, “Simalengo” brought to the fore the rapture of those svelte dancing queens, Masike and Muteta, with an ecstatic drum climax.

Masike holding forte with audience, parrying verbally with them, hip on one hand was the quintessential evocation of those divas from a bygone era, from the blues, jazz and soul renaissance who were affectionately known as “Empress”, “High Priestess” and “Lady Soul” like Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin among others. Here at last, from the Zimbabwean soil, was our own Empress of eclectic traditional mbira rhythms infused with catchy jazzy inflections and a snazzy contemporary beat.

The danceable driving jiti rhythms of “Dzangu Nhamo” saw Limbikani and the rest of this hugely exceptional band excel yet again, and one member from the audience promptly nicknamed Limbikani, “Igwe!”

When Kakuwe finally took their bow, there was a standing ovation and wild cries for “One more! One more!” But Masike with her disarming charm said, “”Of course we can’t play all the songs on the album, you have to buy the album.” So still hungering for more, the audience had to console themselves with the warm glow the entire performance had engendered in them.

“It was good, it sounded good, for a debut album,” enthused Evans Chingezi who had been part of the audience. He lamented, “I wish there had been more of the jiti.”

The debut album, Hope, had been successfully launched, and from that launch performance, it became increasing clear that Hope Masike neKakuwe’s art has the ability to give us, what Isabel Allende, the Chilean novelist, has called intimations of infinity, of the romance of creation and the wonder of life. The performance and album whose messages were full of hope, faith as well as the need to seek and walk on a path full of transcendal glory under the guidance of the Almighty (whatever we perceive that power to be), encourages us never to despair but to persist, always.

This was the dawn of Hope, the album, the unstoppable rise of Hope the artiste, the affirmation of Kakuwe the band. The audience were reassured by these gifted youngsters that all good art enlightens. Kakuwe’s spirited performance, with Masike and Muteta’s infectious radiant smiles lighting up the amphitheatre, reminded us of the simple but profound pleasures rendered by all good works of art. Theirs was a performance that confirmed the virtually swooning almost erotic pleasure a good song, good music, an inspired performance, gives. That Friday night, in Harare, at the Delta Gallery amphitheatre, something nameless happened, as the music of Kakuwe gave the inchoation of our own experience, anxieties, faith and hope, form.

As idea met became magic via a well rendered execution, we cried out, yes, yes, that is how it is and we realised we were in the presence of a truly remarkable young woman, whose three- year sojourn, with all its costs, trials and tribulations, through treacherous byways of life, was blooming in a triumphant arrival right before our eyes. That night, Hope Masike neKakuwe revealed to us the transcendal radiance of inspiration, how it is possible to find wisdom through songs, music and a spirited performance. Theirs is a story of courage, persistence and faith full of surplus animation and undiluted passion. Through our gasps of appreciation and gratification, we all concluded, Hope, Kakuwe’s debut album is one worth having and it would be a crime to buy a pirated copy.

Hope Masike has proven, with her debut album, Hope, that all makers of good art carry a vision, and that vision, when we encounter it in the art and artful performance, refreshes and enlightens us so much that, long after the show is over, after listening to the album (which you must buy), on our return to reality, we realise that that reality has been inevitably changed, however minutely. Perhaps, Outspoken, himself a rising star in the world of the spoken work, summed the magic of it all: “It connected with feeling; feeling connected with sound and words would rob the performance of its richness. It was stellar, heavy!”

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