The Sunday News
Kudzai Mpangi, Sunday Life Reporter
RENOWNED Bulawayo’s all female imbube ensemble, Nobuntu continues to raise the country’s flag on international scenes as they are set to perform at the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA) in Philadelphia next month.
The award-winning ensemble has been given the limelight to perform as an opening act for every performance that will take place at the world premiere. Having performed a stellar performance in their debut tour in the United States of America last year the group left the people dazzled, the group representative Duduzile Sibanda said their American tour opened many doors for them.
“We are so much grateful to our American tour which has opened doors for us. We have often been invited on international performances when we are doing our annual tours but all thanks to our American tour we are being considered to perform at festivals this shows our growth,” Sibanda said.
Sibanda said they are ecstatic to be given a chance to perform in Philadelphia as it is their first time going there and they want to share their talent with others.
“We are very excited to be performing at this festival as it will be our first time performing there. It’s quite exciting as travelling is always something that we look forward to and it gives us the chance to explore our talent even more as we feel we must showcase our talent to the world,” Sibanda said.
“And of all the performance we always do, we find a different experience on our tours so its always good to be invited in different places,” she said.
She revealed that people have often marveled at their performances every time they perform on an international stage.
“We have been getting a good response as people are eager to know about what we are singing about especially in European countries people always approach us so as to know what we are really singing about as our music touches their souls,” she said.
“Not a lot has been discovered about our genre as people marvel how we do it because we are women not men and that makes us unique from others,” she added.
Nobuntu is one of the best female groups in Zimbabwe which has drawn international acclaim for its inventive performances and through their music they seek to share their stories, maintain their culture as they sing in their native language. -@kayskudzai
