ON Saturday 27 February, the colourful soul-funk-r&b band SUBWAY will be featuring LINDSAY YON at The Mannenberg in Fife Ave, as part of the dynamic programme for the promotion of women artists: FLAME (Female Literary, Arts and Music Enterprise) by Harare arts organisation, Pamberi Trust.  

Coming from the background of a strong and gifted musical Mutare family which has brought over a dozen musicians to the public stage over some 70 years, Lindsay Yon (who is also the daughter of popular blues singer/guitarist Dave Yon), represents the third generation of performers in that family, exposed from her earliest years to a wide and eclectic mix of jazz, soul, blues, latin and rock, evolving with the times towards the modern urban soul and afro-pop of today.  Her influences have been far and wide, from Roberta Flack and Janis Joplin to Mafikizolo, Norah Jones and Corinne Bailey Rae, and her repertoire dips successfully into all of those.

Lindsay is not a newcomer to the public stage in Harare, having performed widely over the past few years with the vocal backing group ‘Fifth Avenue’ and guesting with The Yon Brothers and other bands, applying her strong warm voice to gutsy bluesy-rock,  mellow ballards, and hard-hitting African rhythms.  

Since 2009 she has joined up with long-experienced musicians from Harare and Bulawayo as SUBWAY, comprising Nigel Wyngard (keyb/guitar), Bob Savannia (drums), Joe Vas (sax/guitar), and Brennan Wyngard (bass), this time joined also by another brilliant young singer, Comfort Mwanyisa.  

FLAME is the gender project of Pamberi Trust, an arts organisation which exists to facilitate the arts in Zimbabwe.  Pamberi Trust is committed to enhancing opportunities for women in the arts, and the FLAME project is tailored to support female artists practically by offering publicity and exposure, performance opportunities, networking and skills workshops.  

In 2006 the project was established in consultation with top women artists who were invited to discuss the needs of young women in the music industry and help to develop a meaningful and effective programme of workshops and events.  

Along with performance and promotional opportunities, FLAME runs a series of workshops for established and emerging women artists, collectively entitled “Workshops For Women Artists, By Women Artists", in which experienced professional women artists tackle key issues in the industry with those still learning and emerging.  Topics usually include Stagecraft, Professionalism/Discipline, Roles in the Band, Understanding the PA System, Copyright issues, Publicity and the Internet, and open discussion on HIV/Aids and the social responsibility of the song-writer or performer.  Three special Songwriting workshops have been conducted by the well-known and experienced musician and producer Bernie Bismark, who is a valuable contributor to the programme, along with afrojazz diva Dudu Manhenga and others.  Since 2006, 24 workshops and dozens of events have been held.

Pamberi Trust gender project officer for FLAME, Batsirai Chigama, said: “It’s exciting to see new talent emerging all the time, and as always, FLAME supports women in every genre of music, and every discipline of the performing arts.  Lindsay’s repertoire with Subway is great and we look forward to the show on Saturday 27, which is sure to be a colourful kaleidoscope of old and new favourites!”