The Sunday News
CULTURE has been the cornerstone of every society and it defines people’s way of life. But, only a handful of Zimbabweans can really tell the music, dances, food, dress or how their forefathers used to live.
In a rare phenomenon, a cultural group mainly comprising youths, is researching and exploring the Zimbabwean culture through music and dance.
Hloseni Arts Ensemble is a cultural group researching on Zimbabwe’s cultural dances and also exploring how our ancestors used to live.
“We want to preserve our culture and by so doing we will help the nation in understanding who we are as Zimbabweans,” said Kundai Hove, the marketing manager of the group.
She added: “The vision of the group is to research and teach Zimbabwe’s tradition through music and dance. In the meantime, we are specialising in 14 Zimbabwean traditional dances.”
Dances the group are specialising in and have explored and understood their context in which they were and are still being played are hosana, amantshomane, amabhiza, amajukwa, isitshikitsha, mhande, shangara, dine, mbakumba, chinyambere, mutshongoyo, chokoto and jerusarema.
Hove said jerusarema was initially known as mbende but was banned by the missionaries after they assumed that it had some sexual connotations hence the dance changed the name to a more inclined Christian name — jerusarema.
In the Matabeleland region, she said, the first five were common while the rest were common in Mashonaland.
“It is the role of us as Zimbabweans to tell our history in a different way. Our group is researching and also exploring the way our forefathers used to live through dance, music and also short plays. We are now working on more than 50 dances that we are researching on,” she said.
The group was founded in 1998 and it was composed of school dropouts. By then, the aim was also to encourage students to pursue their education. When group members grew older, they changed its vision and focused more on researching about the country’s culture.
“We are introducing a programme called a culture night on 1 August and it will be running on Friday evening at our centre at Centenary Park. Our aim is to invite families and all interested parties because we will be promoting the family. Moreso, we will be doing a tour around Zimbabwe showcasing the different dances.
“If we are doing a Ndebele night, we will be performing a Ndebele dance and also educating people on their way of life. As we do the dances we will consider the type food they ate because some dances like hosana were mainly for rain making and shangara for thanksgiving after harvesting. Therefore, we will be both educating and entertaining people.
“As a way of promoting and also conserving our culture, we teach the playing of traditional instruments like mbira, marimba and drums. We also teach primary school pupils because they are our future.”
The group has participated in many events that included representing Bulawayo in celebrating the Durban Festival in 2009 and 20012, Panaf Algiers, the occasion which runs once in every 40 years and also the African cultural village in Polokwane in 2011.
The group has been nominated in most awards that include the nominees for the best male dancers, outstanding dance group, outstanding male dancers and also outstanding female dancers all for 2008 and 2009.
However, one of the biggest challenges the group is facing is sponsorship to enable them to research more about the country’s culture.
“We really need support from the business community so that we can explore more on the country’s culture. From where we are now, we still have to move another mile and add input in the country’s culture because failure to do that will see our culture being eroded,” she said.
She also said it was important for youths to understand their roots before embracing modern dances.
Said Hove, “A person without a future, is a person without a beginning. Youth therefore don’t have the future when they don’t have the beginning hence it is always important for them to look back.”
