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Posts Tagged "Zimbabwean guests"

Festival Updates

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Dear Zimfest community,

We are saddened and disappointed to announce that Innocent Musafare Mutero has been denied his visa in South Africa and will be unable to join us for Zimfest 2023. The Teachers and Workshops Team is working flat out to find teachers to take over his workshops and we will let you know when we confirm the revisions to the workshop schedule.

Some festival tips:

  • The weather forecast for Corvallis next weekend is above 90 degrees F. for the duration of the festival! Bring fans for your rooms and stay hydrated! We are no longer providing water to concert performers (trying to avoid plastic water bottles), so bring your own water containers.  To help you out, we will be selling iced fizzy water, probably La Croix, at the Zimfest booth during marketplace hours.
  • Sales for Zimfest tees and this year’s special product, lightweight hoodies, at this year’s Zimfest Booth will again be cash and check only – no added fees! – as we evaluate cashless payment options for future. Bring your cash! If you forget, there are ATMs nearby, in McNary Dining Center as well as the Memorial Union, site of several Zimfest workshop rooms.
  • We are getting attention in Corvallis newspapers, noting the the return of Zimfest to OSU! Enjoy this online version of a story in the Gazette-Times.

Stay cool!

Music Dancing Across Borders

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Zimfest Updates

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Greetings Zimfest Community,

We regret to inform you that Gwenyambira Joyce Warikandwa Chihera will not be joining us at Zimfest this year as her visa was denied. We hope to see her in a future year. Please see the Workshop Changes webpage for adjustments to the schedule to accommodate her absence.

The ZA Board has revised the COVID safety policy, to recommend (but not require) masking in indoor public spaces at the festival. Consult Covid Safety at Zimfest 2023 for details.

 

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Zimbabwean Guests

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Hello Zimfesters!

At this time we would like to announce the 2023 Zimfest Travel Fellowships grantees. The ZA Board initiated two fellowships in 2019 awarding full travel costs to one veteran Zimfest teacher and one new to the festival. Because of the effect of the pandemic on worldwide travel, 2023 is only the second time we have been able to make these awards. Please welcome our 2023 fellowship winners to Zimfest (and sign up for their workshops!):

Tsungai Tsikirai 

An award-winning singer-songwriter and performing artist from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Ms. Tsikirai has been based in the United Kingdom since 2002. She previously taught (mainly choral music) at Zimfest 2018. Although she has a flare for dance, her greatest passion is singing, with influences ranging from traditional Shona and Ndebele music to contemporary AfroFusion sounds. Enjoy her performances on an electric version of “Nhemamusasa” and  a recent collaboration with Zulu guitarist Maqhinga Hadebe.

There are openings in all four Zimfest 2023 workshops Tsungai will be teaching (enter her name under teachers): Dance Therapy, two singing workshops and an introduction to both chiShona and siNdebele languages, reflecting her heritage. The more people sign up for the choral sessions, the more fun! The Session 7 workshop Yimba/Cula will be the first performance at this year’s Festival Highlights on Sunday Aug 6. In addition, Tsungai is coordinating a special all-Zimbabwean show Sunday night at 9 PM on the evening stage, Celebrate Bulawayo!

Innocent Musafare Mutero

Innocent is a multi-instrumentalist who began his musical career playing marimba at his primary school in Chitungwiza and with CHIPAWO (Children’s Performing Arts Organization of Zimbabwe). He moved to South Africa in 2008 to play in professional marimba bands there and later began teaching music in Johannesburg. He is on demand as a teacher in a number of Joburg schools, and has also been invited to play keyboards with Thomas Mapfumo as a member of the Blacks Unlimited in tours to South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe from 2015 on. 

With an impressively large and varied repertoire, Innocent is teaching several marimba workshops at Zimfest 2023. While one of them has filled up, there are plenty of openings in the others at this time. He would especially like more players for “Varipiko Amai,” a Thomas Mapfumo number, and “Fairytale,” his arrangement of a South African house track. He will be performing with Totem Marimba bandmate Michael in the Marimba All-Stars, Friday evening at 9:35 PM. Enjoy Innocent and Mike jamming together on marimba.

Ride Board

We have now published the Ride Board on the Zimfest website to facilitate carpooling. Zimbabweans (and others) are starting to purchase plane tickets and will be requesting our assistance getting from the nearest airports to OSU in Corvallis.

Two months until Zimfest 2023!
Zimfest Coordinator and Organizing Committee

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Zimfest 2023 Registration Opens Soon

Posted on by Larry Israel Posted in Festival News

Are you ready to register for Zimfest!? Go to the website to Meet the Zimbabweans, meet the Workshop Teachers, browse all 79 workshops on the Workshop Schedule, learn How to Register, and much more.

Registration is due to open late Sunday night at midnight (when the date turns May 1st, Pacific Time) for ZA members, and on May 4th for everyone. Why not join, renew, verify your membership, or get your membership number.

A team of dedicated volunteers, the Zimfest Organizing Committee has been working very hard for the past few months preparing an amazing festival, August 3-6 at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

The Roommate Request Board is a new feature on the website this year (similar to the ride board). Because most dorm rooms are doubles and triples, you may want to find a roommate, to save money on housing.

You can always get the latest news by going to the Zimfest Home Page (in the white box in the middle).

Larry Israel
Zimfest website maintainer

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Announcing Zimbabwean Artists at Zimfest 2023

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Dear Zimfest community,

The Zimfest OC is excited to announce the Zimbabwean guests for 2023, including five performing and teaching artists new to Zimfest: Othnell Mangoma Moyo, Joyce Warikandwa Chihera, Mudavanhu Magaya, Innocent Musafare Mutero, and Tendayi Kusaya. Read more about them and returning friends on the Festival Overview page. Also check out planned Festival Events, including a tribute in song to the recently deceased Ambuya Stella Chiweshe among the Festival Highlights on Sunday afternoon.

We are hard at work getting registration ready to go, targeted to open on May 1 for members and May 4 for all others; the workshop schedule will be published soon. We have had unexpected news from OSU University Housing services, in that many of the rooms for rent in McNary Hall are triples. This is a mixed blessing as the triple rooms will be great for participants coming in groups, but not all the beds will be at floor level as we requested. See On-Campus Housing for room rates and configurations.

Friendly reminder to those wishing to renew Memberships: If you are a long-time member but have not paid for a membership since November 2021 (when we introduced a new membership system), you cannot renew your old membership. You must take out a new membership in the new system. If you take out or renew a membership in April, you will be able to access the registration system on May 1 before the general public.

Claire Jones, Festival Coordinator

Music Dancing Across Borders

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Zimfest 2023 News

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

From the ZA Board and OC

We are excited to announce that all Zimfest 2023 concerts, daytime and evening, will be OUTSIDE on a stage in the OSU Lower Campus, also called McNary Field. This decision was made for several reasons: the main concert venue at OSU, LaSells-Stewart Center, will be unavailable because of renovation, and both alternative ballrooms (in the Student Union and Alumni Center) were judged to have shortcomings such as minimal backstage space and no loading dock.

Our concert production team suggested several years ago that we have our evening concerts outdoors, but none of our recent hosts allowed music outside after 10 PM. The music (noise) curfew in the OSU Field will be 11 PM, allowing us plenty of time for music-making under the stars!

This is the year! One big advantage to us is that we will be able to make all concerts open to all performers regardless of visa status! (No “visiting Zimbabweans perform in the afternoon only” this year!) Admission will be by donation, with pre-concert ticket sales beginning when registration opens (targeted for May 1). Those of you who have registered for workshops by donation in the past should be aware that requesting donations for events that are effectively free allows us to pay honoraria to Zimbabweans who come here on a B1 visitors visa (see Workshops by Donation, scroll down). We ask that you support our visiting artists, and support Zimfest’s move to Evening Outdoor Concerts, by donating as much for your concert tickets as you paid in previous years.

 Of course, none of this will happen unless we receive more applications for performing and teaching! Remember, the application deadlines for Zimfest 2023 are coming soon, February 28.
Performer applications here
Teacher applications here

ZA Board and Organizing Committee
Music Dancing Across Borders

To those of you who might be worried about getting rained on during outdoor concerts, please note that there is historically a 3% chance of rain that first weekend in August, the lowest for the entire year. This is the year!

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Zimfest Online in July

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Happy (belated) solstice Zimfesters!

  • Our Zimfest Online presentations during June have gone well. Registration is now open for new offerings in July after we take a brief break for the 4th of July. 
  • We are happy to host Linos Wengara Magaya as a virtual presenter along with his bandmate Tim Lloyd on July 11. Based in the UK, their Zimbaremabwe band had to cancel their first US tour this year. See the Overview page for a photo and brief biographical info.
  • Zimfest Coordinator Claire Jones will host an interview with long-time friend Lucky Moyo on July 25th. This conversation is the second in in a series of interviews with individuals and non-profits working in Zimbabwe, made available for free as a public service by Zimfest. The exact time and specifics will be announced here and on Facebook.
  • And don’t forget the “Black Freedom Concert”  featuring Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited streaming live on Facebook from Eugene, OR on Friday, June 26, 2020: Live Stream by Studio 541 Productions on Facebook.

Stay Safe
Claire Jones, Zimfest Coordinator


Music Dancing Across Borders

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Ride Board and Registration Clarification

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Howdy,

Want to get to know a Zimbabwean teacher or performer better? Give them a ride to or from Zimfest!

* We have Zimbabwean teachers and performers coming from all directions this year. Some will arrive directly from Zimbabwe and some are visiting communities elsewhere in the US before the festival. Some are experienced US travelers and some are first-time visitors. Given the variety of schedules and arrival points, it’s quite a logistical challenge to get all our Zim guests to Monmouth for the festival and to get them off to their next destination after the festival. As with so many aspects of Zimfest, we depend on festival goers to help by giving rides to teachers and performers on their way to and from Monmouth. The Ride Board on the website is the place to make connections between drivers and riders. You can post an offer or request a ride yourself, by entering some basic info on time and place plus a contact email or phone number.
 – Mark Keller, Zimbabwean Guest Coordinator

* Also, a clari-fication from the Festival Coordinator: Housing and dining registrations are now closed, and the last day to register for workshops and sign up for volunteer shifts is July 31. These systems will close at midnight that day and no registration can take place until August 8 onsite.
 – Claire Jones, Festival Coordinator

Music Dancing Across Borders

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Interview with Zimfest Teacher Gilbert Zvamaida

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Hello Zimfesters,

A quick news flash to alert you to a new Zimfest initiative!
We asked a Zimfest volunteer (Anesu Ndoro) to interview one of our new teachers, Gilbert Zvamaida, to learn more about his musical background and what he has to offer at Zimfest 2019. Mr. Zvamaida plays a mean guitar and is an expert in different Zimbabwean guitar styles. Listen to what he has to say on this interview excerpt.

Learn more about Gilbert Zvamaida and the workshops he will be teaching on the Workshop Teachers page. Better yet, sign up to learn to play mbira-guitar style or hear him talk about and demonstrate guitar styles in Zimbabwe!

While you’re on Youtube, search for and subscribe to our new Zimfest USA channel to hear the entire English-language interview with Gilbert Zvamaida and Anesu Ndoro and be alerted to upcoming Zimfest clips.

See you at the festival,
Claire and the OC (with Techie help!)

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Announcement of Zimbabwean Guests for Zimfest 2019

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Greetings, Kwaziwai, Salibonane!
Just a short message to let you know that we have announced this year’s Zimbabwean guest teachers on the 2019 Overview page on the website. Performers are not yet finalized, and as always at this time of the year, visas are pending for Zimbabweans traveling from abroad.

Happy spring!
Claire Jones, Festival Coordinator
On behalf of the 2019 Zimfest Organizing Committee

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Zimfest Sunday Concert Special

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Dear Zimfest community,

This message addresses a shared complaint and request from the Zimfest 2018 survey, and our response to it. Be sure to read through to the end!

Several people have expressed the desire to see more Zimbabweans performing on the evening stage at Zimfest. We want you to be aware that there is a legal reason that not all the visiting Zimbabweans can perform at our ticketed concerts. The type of US visa (B-1 business/pleasure) granted to many of the Zimbabweans (and Canadians!) traveling to Zimfest does not allow the visa holder to perform in a concert for which admission is charged. Zimfest cannot include B-1 visa holders on the ticketed evening stage lineups; it would risk the visa status of these visitors, as well as the co-sponsoring status of the Zimfest Association and our host institution (WOU).

Our plan for Zimfest 2019 is to make the Sunday evening concert on August 11, 2019 free admission, by donation only. Like the afternoon concerts at the festival, there will be no restrictions as to who may perform, so we hope to include some of Zimbabweans you’ve been missing (take note, Zimbabwean applicants!). In order to make this work, we need your help as audience members. We cannot afford to lose money on Sunday evening, so we ask that you donate the same amount that tickets cost for the Friday and Saturday ticketed concerts: currently $18 in advance, $20 onsite for adults.

If having a concert “by donation” sounds like the Zimfest workshops that are “by donation,” it is because it is motivated by the same money-earning restrictions on B-1 visa holders. Any instruction or musical demonstration offered by these individuals must be free and open to the public. This is explained in more detail on the website here (see Workshops by Donation). As with the “by donation” workshops, it is our hope that you understand that donating the full amount supports Zimfest’s ability to bring these musicians to the festival. It is disappointing for us to see people donating relatively small amounts for children taking workshops, or American teachers signing up for workshops from Zimbabweans. We appeal to you as a community to help us out on this with your generous donations.

It will be many weeks before we know who will be coming to Zimfest this year, but we wanted to let you know of these plans in advance so that you can make your own plans accordingly. We promise the Sunday evening concert at Zimfest 2019 will be very special – you won’t want to miss out!

Until next time,
Claire Jones
On behalf of the Zimfest 2019 OC and ZA Board of Directors

Zimfest 2019 – Music Dancing Across Borders

 

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Village Meeting and September Board Meeting Minutes

Posted on by Zimfest Association Board Posted in Zimfest Association News

The Zimfest Association board of directors has posted minutes from the Village Meeting at Zimfest 2018 and the September 9th board meeting.

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