AFTER A WHIRLWIND quarter year, spreading her music far and wide in the southern African region and far flung European cities, DUDU MANHENGA returns home this week, with an exciting homecoming show at The Book Café, Saturday 24 July, 8pm.

 

The music of Dudu Manhenga and Color Blu has been accurately described as ‘an afro jazz adventure’ -  a fusion of genres: afro, contemporary, Zimbabwe traditional, township, jazz, afro, latino, and a cultural cross-breed of Zimbabwe’s Manica, Mashona and Matabele rhythms and melodies, spiced with some energetic stage work, sizzling vocals, and a dignity of delivery of which all Zimbabweans can be proud. 

 

Dudu has been commanding attention of music-lovers and fellow musicians in the southern African region and abroad in the last two years.  Her performances in Serbia last week at the Exit Festival have rounded up a series of tours in which she thrilled audiences in South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland as part of the now famous FLAME Regional Tour by Pamberi Trust, followed swiftly by participation at the famous Grahamstown Festival in South Africa, and later a wonderful open-air performance at Johannesburg’s Ella Fitzgerald Square outside the Bassline concert venue, before joining the Serbian festival in July.

 

The FLAME Regional Tour from 29 May to 6 June was an amazing artistic collaboration in which Dudu joined some of the sweetest voices of the region - the Mozambican icon Mingas, and South Africans Mpumie Twala and Ndithini Mbali (sax).  Through partnerships with African Synergy Trust in Johannesburg and others in the region, FLAME delivered stunning performances at the Centro Cultural Franco Mocambicano in Maputo, the popular Bushfire Festival in Swaziland and the Bassline in Johannesburg before winding up the tour in Harare at the beginning of June with two shows at The Mannenberg. 

 

In spite of being the youngest, Dudu was one of the livewires of the production, adding strong Zimbabwean flavours to the repertoire which included music by each artist - and the region loved them! 

 

Back home earlier in the year, Dudu took part in the Harare Jazz Festival alongside some of the great jazzists of the country and the region.  Dudu and Color Blu later performed in Harare, Lusaka and Ndola (Zambia), with the brilliant Italian jazz group under the leadership of jazz pianist Sylvia Manco, supported by the Embassy of Italy in Zimbabwe.

 

Last year, among many local and regional performances, she was well received in South Africa featuring at Johannesburg’s Arts Alive festival; collaborated brilliantly with Mozambican artist Mingas, performed alongside Italian visitors Ital-Jazz and hosted Mozambican superstar Chico Antonio in Harare.  Dudu also featured on a continental album for the campaign-against-hunger project by Action Aid International-Africa, ‘Hunger Free, Music for Freedom and Justice 2009’, which  includes two Dudu Manhenga originals, Is This the Life and Women of Africa.

 

On top of a busy family and church life, Dudu is also active in music rights and anti-piracy issues, gender and anti-violence activities, and is a major contributor to the FLAME (Female Literary Arts Music Enterprise) project, run by Harare-based arts organization Pamberi Trust.  Activities include workshop series ‘Workshops for Women Artists by Women Artists’ and international events for Women’s Day and

the ‘16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women’ campaign.

 

The Saturday 24 July show at Fife Avenues The Book Café promises to be fired up as Dudu returns from the rich experiences of the last few months, no doubt inspired and inspiring, as she celebrates as always, her homecoming.