A song for the bride

With these recordings, we are accompanying the writer and filmmaker Joyce Jenje Makwenda to a Wedding in Old Pumula Township of Bulawayo. Joyce is widely acknowledged for her book, film and TV series “Zimbabwe Township Music”; and had recently launched a new major publication of her long standing research: “Women Musicians of Zimbabwe”. One of the much mentioned women pioneers in the book is the Jazz singer Lina Mattaka. The Wedding celebration we attended was of Lina’s neighbours in Old Pumula. Joyce and Lina had planned to contribute to the celebration with the performance of a song… Recording turned out to be not an easy task, since as a third degree guest and foreigner I wished to keep in line. So, what you’re hearing is an audience perspective of the event… (The main language is Ndebele.) Joyce says about the song: “…the song is in Shona – Idiko zita raTenzi….. translated to – It is true the name of the Almighty gives us peace…” These recordings are archived at: https://archive.org/details/Voices_from_Bulawayo_388