Greetings all,
The Zimfest organizers have been gratified to see the large numbers of registration and new memberships rolling in – we are looking forward to a large and joyous gathering at CWU this summer! Some updates:
- We see from a glance at the Workshop grid that many workshops are already full, and a large number of them are marimba workshops! We will be evaluating in the coming days and weeks how we might add workshops, or increase enrollment in some, but in the meanwhile, please explore ALL our workshop offerings. If you have only taken marimba workshops in the past, consider a beginning workshop in hosho, drumming, or different types of mbira. You need NO experience to participate in song, or dance workshops!
- We encourage everyone, no matter what type of instrument you have been learning, to sign up for a Cultural Presentation in order to deepen your knowledge of Zimbabwean culture and traditions. Zimfest considers these so important that we charge less for them! We have compiled a list of presentations and instruments new to Zimfest 2025 here.
- We regret to inform you that one of our long-awaited Zimbabwean guest teachers, Innocent Musafare Mutero, has been denied his visa in South Africa and will be unable to come to Zimfest. We have been working hard to replace his workshops, all intermediate marimba classes. If you were enrolled in one or more of his workshops, you should have received a message informing you of what to do in order to remain in the replacement workshop. Although most of his workshops were full, the replacement teachers have all agreed to allow a higher number of students, so there are currently openings in these workshops. A summary of the workshop changes can be found here.
Happy hunting!
Festival Coordinator Claire
I would like to put in an encouraging word for folks to sign up for the Multi-Instrumental ensemble and African orchestra workshops, especially if you are having trouble finding a marimba workshop spot. These workshops (Session 3 with Zivanai Masango and Session 4 with Anesu Ndoro) will both have marimbas involved and my past experience with this type of workshop has been extremely positive! It is very eye-opening to see how a song can come together on a variety of instruments in a short time; you will be amazed.