The Sunday News
Mbongeni Msimanga, Sunday Leisure Correspondent
THE son of the late Simon Mahlaba Banda, Charles Banda is set to breathe life into Sunduza Arts Theatre and Dance group, an assemblage which made waves in the 1980s after being founded by his father.
Sunduza Arts Theatre and Dance is one of the oldest arts groups in Zimbabwe. It had gone under the radar due to a catalogue of factors that include death and old age. The group is remembered for being a trendsetter as it is one of the first local groups to tour Europe.
In an interview with Sunday Leisure, Banda said he was ready to carry on his father’s legacy. Simon Mahlaba Banda, popularly known as Mahlaba, passed on in 2012 after a short illness.
“The group Sunduza Arts Theatre and Dance was formed in the 80s and I believe we will carry on my father’s legacy. After he passed on, we started building the group and bringing it back to shape.
“We have since recruited new members as a way of reviving it. The only founding members that we have are Baphi Madladla and Bekithemba Sibanda,” he said.
Banda said their target markets for now are primary schools.
“We are actively involved with primary schools and we teach hosana that is normally played host to by Jikinya Dance Festival.
That is how we make our money as well,” he said.
Sunduza was recently in Gweru for the road safety awareness programme and also performed at the Voices of Colour event.
The late Simon Mahlaba Banda choreographed the Sheffield Oratorius production of David Fanshawe’s African Sanctus at the University of Sheffield in 2002 together with Alan Eost, Mandla Sibanda and Philip Weiss.
He was also involved in a youth project with the Performing Africa Conference at Leeds University in 2004 and significantly founded the first intercultural choir working in the imbube tradition in United Kingdom in 2001.
The late muso also adjudicated and trained artistes as part of the Music Crossroads project in Zimbabwe and worked closely with the UNDP programme “Artistes against Poverty”.
