Music Dancing Across Borders
The 2025 Zimbabwean Music Festival will take place August 7-10 at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. A family-friendly cultural festival, Zimfest has something for everyone: Dynamic concerts, fun educational music and dance workshops, African marketplace and more.
Activities including Zimfest registration and dining will be centered in the Student Union & Recreation Center. Evening concerts will be held in the SURC Ballroom, while the afternoon concerts and African Marketplace will be located in a grassy, shaded area outside the northeast corner of the SURC. Workshops, housing and camping are nearby.
Meet the Zimbabweans at Zimfest 2025
We have accepted and look forward to hosting the following individuals as new Zimfest teachers with the proviso that visas are not yet approved in every case (here’s hoping!).
Ndomupeishe Chipendo
Rhythm master and dance choreography specialist Ndomupeishe (aka “NdoMzy”) is a performing artist in Harare, Zimbabwe. She describes herself as a multi-disciplinary creative and is eager to share her knowledge. She has performed with Afrikera Dance Theatre and studied at Music Crossroads Academy.
Bezil Makombe
From childhood, Bezil played the mbira at traditional ceremonies in his rural home of Seke in Zimbabwe. He toured internationally with Thomas Mapfumo for ten years, driving the band’s mbira section. Bezil is currently based in South Africa where he plays with Gitca Mbira Group.
Tipei Marazanye
Tipei teaches marimba and mbira as a parish musician in the Church of Sweden in Lund. A composer of both sacred and secular music, he has published a book of choral pieces and performs on mbira with Western instrumental accompaniment in several groups in Sweden. Tipei has developed a new 23-key nyunga nyunga mbira which he is excited to share with students at Zimfest.
Innocent Musafare Mutero
Multi-instrumentalist Innocent enjoys training his marimba students for competitions and performances where they have earned many accolades. He has performed on keyboards with Thomas Mapfumo and plays with the bands Rimbambira and Totem Marimba. Innocent is currently teaching at St David’s Marist School near Johannesburg, South Africa.
Anesu Ndoro
Anesu is passionate about cultural exchanges, instructing and performing traditional African music and dance, and studying as well as teaching African literature. Anesu is currently a humanities and traditional arts teacher at USAP Community School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe. Much of his teaching centers around helping to connect Zimfest attendees with rural-based artists.
Lino Piloto
Lino is the director at Ntswai Ntswai Arts in Mutare, Zimbabwe, overseeing music and dance classes, performance groups and the manufacturing of traditional instruments. He often does presentations in schools, working to preserve, promote and celebrate Zimbabwean music, arts and culture.
Returning Zimbabwean Teachers
Teachers returning to Zimfest who traveled from abroad include Tsungai Tsikirai, a singer, songwriter, teacher and performer based in the UK. Tsungai most recently participated in Zimfest 2023, teaching singing, dance and language. Also coming from the UK is Zimfest veteran Lucky Moyo, a singing, drumming and dance teacher par excellence.
Joining us from South Africa is Michael Sibanda, marimba specialist, composer, arranger, performer and renowned music educator. And, from Zimbabwe, we welcome back our friend Musekiwa Chingodza, a master performer and teacher of mbira, hosho and drumming.
Finally, we are so glad to welcome our returning North America-based Zimbabwean teachers and performers: Zivanai Masango, Helen Masvikeni-Masango and Blessing Chimanga of ZiMBiRA (Boulder), Tapiwa Kapurura (Salem) and Maria Minnaar Bailey (Joplin). Our workshop schedule is filled out by an experienced crew of North American teachers. Moyo Mutamba (Toronto) has informed us he will be unable to come.
CWU Land Acknowledgement
Central Washington University acknowledges the people who have been on this land since time immemorial. The Ellensburg campus is on lands ceded by the Pshwanapum and other bands and tribes of the Yakama Nation in the Treaty of 1855. The Yakama people remain committed stewards of this land, cherishing it and protecting it, as instructed by elders through generations. CWU is honored and grateful to be here today on their traditional lands, and gives thanks to the legacy of the original people, their lives, and their descendants.
We thank the artist Karin Rao, and graphics by Annika Genthe. (Click to download a printable PDF.)
