Zimfest 2008
Greetings and Festival Notes

Greetings! Kwaziwai! Sawubona!

Zimfest 2008 will be held on July 4–6, 2008, at Pacific Lutheran University just outside Tacoma, Washington, with Prefest on Thursday, July 3. We are blessed to have a front row seat as the festival unfolds, and we are pleased with the strong enthusiasm we sense from our growing community, not only for the work we are doing to produce the festival but also for the way the music of Zimbabwe continues to touch so many people’s lives. We have several new concepts we are trying this year as well as a return to some favorite ones from previous festivals. We hope you find this guide helpful as you plan your July 4th holiday weekend.

Towonana kuZimfest! See you at Zimfest!

Site Information

Pacific Lutheran University’s beautiful and cozy campus will offer convenience and comfort to this year’s festival participants. The close-knit community feeling that has been an important part of past Zimfests will return this year as everyone can be housed on campus and will be able to gather day and night to play music, have discussions, and get to know each other. PLU’s newly renovated University Center will be the home of Zimfest registration and also provides dining services (in the Commons). The marketplace and concerts will be at or adjacent to Red Square, a central gathering place located next to University Center.

   
Red Square, location of the Zimfest 2008 Marketplace
Red Square at PLU (click to enlarge)

Zimbabwean Guests

We are excited to welcome new and returning Zimbabwean teachers to this year’s Zimfest as well as an amazing group of North American teachers. New to Zimfest this year are the members of Mawungira Enharira, an award-winning mbira ensemble based in Zimbabwe. They are vana gwenyambira (master mbira players) Wilfred Tichaona Mafrika, Edmond Micah Munhemo, Jacob Mafuleni, Tonderai Phiri, Tonderai Ndava, Peacheson Ngoshi, and Loebbe Tigere Gahamadze. Also visiting us for the first time are vana gwenyambira Ambuya Jenny Muchumi and Patience Chaitezvi, two very powerful women mbira players. Returning to Zimfest from Zimbabwe this year are Musekiwa Chingodza, an amazing mbira, ngoma, and hosho player with a voice to match; Ronnie Daliyo, currently on an artist-in-residence program in Oakland, California; and the members of Bongo Love (John Mambira, Mpho Mambira, Themba Mawoko, and Trymore Jombo), following their successful tour of the United States last summer. In addition, Sheasby Matiure and Tendai Muparutsa, both currently studying in the United States, will be returning to Zimfest as well as US-based Zimbabwean musicians Julia Tsitsi Chigamba, Lora Chiorah-Dye, Paul Mataruse, and Loveness Wesa.

With the increasing numbers of visiting Zimbabweans each year, Zimfest continues to improve its quality and selection of workshop offerings. However, each year the challenges continue to increase to meet travel, housing, and meals costs for teachers. We ask you, the community, to help shoulder some of the financial burden that Zimfest has incurred to host visiting artists. For this year’s festival, the cost of housing and meals for each Zimbabwean guest is over $200. To illustrate how easy it would be for your band to sponsor a Zimbabwean teacher, consider the following: for a marimba group of seven people, a donation of $30 each will sponsor a Zimbabwean guest for the entire weekend.

Your donation will help us defray the costs of hosting Zimbabwean teachers at the festival, which in turn helps keep the cost of workshops as low as possible. You may make a donation as part of your online or mailed-in registration or you may send a check directly to Zimfest 2008. For additional information, contact Dana Moffett, the Zimbabwean Guest Coordinator, at zimbabweans [at] zimfest {dot} org. All donations are tax deductible.

New This Year

We are excited to present several new programs and workshop formats to Zimfest 2008 as well as a new addition to the Registration Guide.

Advanced Youth Marimba Series

This series of workshops is for advanced students only. The classes are designed to be fast-paced, challenging, and appealing to youth marimba players who tend to learn significantly faster than adult players in the advanced workshops offered at Zimfest. The series recognizes that advanced youth marimba players require a different environment that not only accommodates their skill level but also is filled with their peers. See Advanced Youth Marimba Workshops.

NOTE TO PARENTS: Before enrolling your children in this series, please talk with their regular marimba teachers to verify that they will be able to handle the level of difficulty in these workshops. Participants who enroll in the Advanced Youth Marimba series but do not meet the criteria will be asked to observe in order to avoid slowing down the class.

Group Workshops

This year various members of Ruzivo will team teach several workshops designed after those at the band’s Camp Ruzivo series of classes. In the Zimfest workshops, participants will experience learning from multiple teachers at the same time and will be taught a song as Ruzivo plays it or as they have arranged it for seven marimbas. These workshops will capitalize on the individual teaching style that has emerged from Ruzivo’s numerous camps on Whidbey Island, Washington.

Mbira Orchestra Workshops

Some mbira classes taught by members of Mawungira Enharira will focus on the orchestra style of mbira, in which four to six players play the same song on mbiras that start on different keys and therefore necessitate different fingering sequences to make each instrument fit. As described by Joel Laviolette of Mhumi Records, “The orchestra is created by playing many mbira that are in tune together, but whose pitches start and end at different points of the scale (or mode) from each other. If thought of in a Western harmonic sense, an mbira may be tuned to: G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G — from lowest to highest. Another mbira may be tuned from C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C — from lowest to highest, and so on. One can then see that there are seven different possibilities of modal choices for the mbira (in a seven note scale), and orchestras will often have seven or more mbira players playing. It is also common to have two or more mbira that are the same tuning, but octaves of each other.”

Workshop Grid

This year we have provided the Workshop Grid as an additional tool to help you plan your Zimfest schedule. The Workshop Grid usually is not available until the festival, but we thought it would be helpful to include it in the Registration Guide as well. The workshops are grouped by type; actual classrooms will be added to the updated version that’s distributed at Zimfest in the Festival Guide. We hope you find the Workshop Grid useful and appreciate any feedback you may have (festival evaluation forms will be available at Zimfest).

Teacher Track

We are pleased to announce the return of the popular Teacher Track program from Zimfest 2005 in Bellingham, Washington. The goal of the program is to provide teachers direct access to Zimbabwean master musicians so that they can gain a deeper understanding of the cultural and historical contexts of the music. Just as importantly, we hope that by coming to a festival with concerts, dancing, workshops for musicians as well as teachers, marimba jams, a youth concert series, and much more, music teachers will experience and feel what this music is and carry that energy back to their classrooms. School teachers will also participate in workshops led by experienced North American instructors who have successfully integrated marimbas into their music classes or have established multiple performing bands over the years.

The program is open to K-12 music teachers as well as those marimba teachers who wish to expand their repertoire for their own classes. We hope that marimba teachers will participate in Teacher Track classes as a way to build on their material without taking space away from other participants in Zimfest workshops offered for beginning or advanced beginning students. Classes for the Teacher Track program will include arrangements of marimba songs, singing, storytelling for K-12 teachers, and cultural presentations to augment teachers’ knowledge of Zimbabwean music and culture.

The Teacher Track program will offer clock hours through the Washington Music Educators Association. In addition, the paperwork has been submitted for the program to offer academic credit through Western Washington University for those who wish to pursue that option.

For additional Teacher Track information, see Teacher Track and Teacher Track Workshop Descriptions, or e-mail us at teachertrack [at] zimfest {dot} org.

Prefest (Thursday, July 3)

A number of teachers have offered to teach individual or group workshops at Prefest on July 3, 2008. From Zimbabwe, the following teachers are available for Prefest workshops: all the members of Bongo Love (individually or as a group), all the members of Mawungira Enharira (individually or as a group), Patience Chaitezvi, Musekiwa Chingodza, Sheasby Matiure, Jenny Muchumi, and Tendai Muparutsa. From the US and Canada, the following teachers are available: Erica Azim, Jaiaen Beck, Nathan Beck, Michael Breez, Ona Connon, Kite Giedraitis, Claire Jones, Joe Keefe, Russ Landers, Wanda Walker, and Ted Wright.

If you would like to schedule a Prefest workshop, contact us at prefest [at] zimfest {dot} org and we will put you in touch with the teacher(s). Please note that Zimfest 2008 does not negotiate the Prefest rates for the teachers. We only provide a workshop space, with marimbas if you need them. Please specify in your request if you will require instruments with or without F#’s.

Thursday Night Concert

Don’t miss your only opportunity to catch a full performance by Mawungira Enharira at Zimfest! On Thursday, July 3, 2008, Mawungira Enharira performs at Eastvoldt Chapel at Pacific Lutheran University. This event, not a sanctioned part of the festival itself, is similar to the Thomas Mapfumo concert at WOW Hall preceding Zimfest 2000 in Eugene, Oregon. This show is not to be missed, as Mawungira Enharira is one of those groups you have to experience if you want to get a flavor of what’s currently playing in all the venues in Harare and throughout Zimbabwe. Tickets are $15 and details are available at www.mawungira.com.

Festival Concerts

At this year’s festival we have an exciting line-up of performers for both the afternoon and evening stages. Zimfest 2008 features over 40 performers during the holiday weekend and offers a great atmosphere to share with family and friends. Afternoon concerts are 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, with a break from 1:00 to 2:30 on Saturday, July 5, for the Village Meeting. Evening concerts are 7:00 pm to 12:30 am Friday through Sunday. For updates on the concert schedule, check the Concerts web page.

Marketplace

This year the marketplace will be located at Red Square, a central gathering place on the PLU campus. This location is central to almost the entire festival, with the afternoon concert stage in Red Square and the evening concert venue just off to the side. Vendors, this is a unique opportunity to capitalize on heavy foot traffic during the July 4th holiday weekend. For booth pricing, non-profit discounts and other details, see the Vendor Information and Application.

Village Meeting (Saturday, July 5, 1:00-2:30)

This year’s Village Meeting will be held on Saturday afternoon immediately following lunch. No workshops or concerts are scheduled during this time so that all festival participants are free to attend. We will hear from the Zimfest Association Board and our Zimbabwean guests, identify potential sites and organizers for future Zimfests, discuss common areas of concern and interest, and get to know each other better.

Volunteer Opportunities

We would like to thank all the volunteers who have helped us organize the festival thus far. There’s still a lot to be done, however, so please sign up for a volunteer spot along with your workshop registration or contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Donita Crosby, at volunteers [at] zimfest {dot} org to volunteer before, during, or after the festival. We are looking for volunteers to work on various projects between now and the completion of the festival on Monday, July 6.

Housing and Meals

Comfortable dorm rooms welcome you to rest your tired body after a full day of workshops, visiting with friends, shopping at our wonderful marketplace, and moving to the rhythm of the mbira and marimba bands during the concerts.

Single, double, and some triple dorm rooms will be available, with shared bathrooms on each floor. You will have the option of having linens provided by PLU or you can bring your favorite pillow, blanket, or sleeping bag. (Children under 12 who stay in a double or triple room with their parents are free, but you must bring their own bedding and mats.) The dorms have lounges and communal kitchen facilities that will be available for use. If you prefer to be in the “quiet” dorm, contact our Housing Coordinator at housing [at] zimfest {dot} org.

PLU complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, providing reasonable accommodations to those with documented disabilities. If you need to be placed in the handicap accessible dorm (which will also act as our “quiet” dorm), email housing [at] zimfest {dot} org.

There will be 15 RV parking spaces available on a first come, first served basis. Please note that there are NO electrical or water hook-ups. A key will be provided with your paid housing/registration so you can make use of the dorm’s showers and restrooms.

The Commons in University Center will offer dining as part of purchased meal plans. Festival goers will have a wide variety of meals to choose from, including vegetarian options. For those who do not wish to purchase full meal plans, there will be a limited amount of a la carte meal choices available in the Commons and there are also several restaurants just a short walk away. In addition, the Campus Store in University Center will be open during the festival with a variety of snacks and drinks for sale.

For details about housing and meal prices, see Housing and Meals Reservations Form B.

Travel Information

See the Travel page.

Zimfest Organizers

This year’s planning committee members are Julie Ishihara, Paul Mataruse, Dana Moffett, and Rose Orskog. A heartfelt thanks goes to those who helped along us along the way: Petra Siemion (registration guide editor), Graham Burdekin (registration guide layout), Larry Israel (Zimfest website), Ross Thompson (database and online registration), Lenny Karpel (concert sound and equipment), Joanne Lauterjung Kelly (promotional advice), Marie Eaton (Teacher Track paperwork), and numerous others including former Zimfest organizing committees who have greatly helped us with information and advice.

Note to Parents

CHILDREN’S WORKSHOPS: CHILDREN AGES 7 AND UNDER MUST HAVE AN ADULT ATTEND THE WORKSHOP WITH THEM. BOTH PARENT AND CHILD MUST REGISTER AND PAY FOR THE CLASS.

Children ages 8 and over are welcome to register for any Zimfest workshop provided they meet the prerequisites and playing level for the class. If you register a child to attend a workshop by themselves, please consider the child’s attention span and comfort level.

How to Contact Zimfest 2008

(You will need to put together the pieces of the following email addresses. We’re taking this measure to reduce the amount of spam we receive.)

General questions by e-mail: 2008 [at] zimfest {dot} org
Registration questions (workshops, meals, etc.): registration [at] zimfest {dot} org
Housing questions: housing [at] zimfest {dot} org
Volunteer questions: volunteers [at] zimfest {dot} org
Marketplace questions: marketplace [at] zimfest {dot} org
Concert questions: concerts [at] zimfest {dot} org
Prefest questions: prefest [at] zimfest {dot} org
Teacher Track questions: teachertrack [at] zimfest {dot} org
Zimbabwean Guest Coordinator: zimbabweans [at] zimfest {dot} org
MySpace: www.myspace.com/zimfestus
Phone messages: 360-321-2075
Postal Address: Zimfest 2008, P.O. Box 30037, Bellingham, WA 98228-3037, USA

We look forward to seeing you at the festival in July. For now, we hope you find the workshop offerings rich and exciting. Watch for updates on the Zimfest website.