Reggae-raga-hip-hop!

SUNDAY 26 JULY 2009
3-6pm + JAM!
IZWI (ZW) & BIKSTOCK Røgsystem (DK)

There will be a great reggae/ragga hip/hop explosion at The Mannenberg Jazz Club's special Sunday opening on Sunday 26 July, with lively cultural exchange between Zimbabwe’s new ‘IZWI’ and Denmark’s ‘BIKSTOK RØGSYSTEM’.

IZWI is a fresh new Zimbabwean music collaboration featuring well known artists Thanda Richardson, Mathias Julius and Innocent ‘Killer Flow’ Masamba backed by the young reggae group ‘Imani Troddaz’.

A powerful and fast-rising singer-songwriter with her own unique sound and style, Thanda Richardson delivers high-energy entertainment, lending her excellent vocal range and skills to the genre, and coming up strong!  Matthias Julius shifted from dance to music in 2006, embraced reggae, and is now recording his 19-track Shona/English debut CD “Here I Come”.  Together with ‘Killer Flow’ this trio is fresh and energetic, and embodies the spirit of young people of Zimbabwe today, who have known and triumphed through ‘hard times’.

BIKSTOK RØGSYSTEM was the biggest newcomer act on the Danish music scene in 2005 maintaining a strong presence there up to today.  But despite all the glitz surrounding these talented guys the truth is that they never meant all this to happen. Spawned from the underground scene in Copenhagen, they just wanted to make a reggae/ragga album with a bit of hip-hop influence for themselves and their friends. Today they have been on the Danish album chart for more than 4 years since their debut Over Stok Og Sten (Copenhagen Records), which achieved numerous awards and a full booked tour-calendar.

Bikstok Røgsystem is a DJ trio consisting of Eaggerman who grew up under his Jamaican dad in the reggae collective in Copenhagen and invented the whole idea of Bikstok; Pharfar; Denmark’s premier hip-hop, dub and reggae producer - awarded at Danish Music Awards as Producer Of The Year 06; and Bukki Blæs; known from the successful Danish hip hop group Malk De Kojn .

The lyrics of Bikstok Røgsystem and their vocal flow are some of the reasons the guys are celebrated by the music critics and the audience alike.  It’s been called ‘fun, ironic, sarcastic and poetic’.

Bikstok is loved by the Danes, and has performed throughout Denmark, including 25,000 people at the huge Roskilde Festival in Denmark’s summertime.

In a cultural exchange cooperation between the Danish student organisation Operation Day's Work, the Danish development organisation MS Zimbabwe and Pamberi Trust, young people of the world will be meeting under the reggae banner at a special Sunday 26 July performance at The Mannenberg jazz club in Fife Avenue from 3-6pm followed by a jam session for other artists of the same inclination!

 

Special Sunday cover charge is US$5.

Penny Yon
For Pamberi Trust