|
Zambuko
Projects® Unlimited
"Zambuko", a Shona-language word meaning
"bridge" is a series of three programs about Africa intended
to reveal, enrich and enlighten
Westerners on her many charms, mysteries and traditions. The programs
include:
1. Educational & Cultural
Presentations®
2. Mbira Series®
3. Spiritual Services®
Highlighting the culture and traditions of the Shona
people of Zimbabwe, Zambuko Projects®
foster, particularly in young people, an enhanced understanding, appreciation
and awareness of cultural diversity. Each educational unit is a four-part
presentation consisting of multi-media based narrative, a "show-and-tell"
presentation, an mbira musical performance and an interactive question
and answer session.
Zambuko Cultural &
Educational Presentations®
Inspired by the belief and conviction that our children are
tomorrow's leaders combined with the reality of living in a "global
village", the curriculum is designed to challenge, motivate,
inspire and cultivate an active interest in other cultures using the
Shona culture of Zimbabwe as the primary vehicle. The current world
order is one bereft of love, understanding and peace. Our children
will bear the burden of our shortsightedness unless we instigate a
global village of peace and hope. Education and intentional peacemaking
will reduce (and hopefully eliminate), ignorance, fear and pointless
confrontation. With this in mind, Zambuko Cultural & Educational
Presentations® are customized to meet the
needs of each age group from elementary school through college. Focusing
on youth, culture, musical traditions and spiritual beliefs of the
Shona people, the program modules are: Zambuko Elementary®,
Zambuko Middle®, Zambuko High®
and Zambuko Varsity®. All modules
are adaptable for presentation in social and cultural organizations
as well. Through education Zambuko Projects®
believes it creates a global village of peace by constructing "bridges"
across physical, economic and cultural divides. -top
An extension of Zambuko Cultural & Educational Presentations®,
Zambuko Mbira Series® introduces
class participants to the millennium old mbira music traditions
of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. Intellectually stimulating, emotionally
uplifting, rhythmically intoxicating and spiritually vitalizing,
mbira music embodies humanity,community, and spirituality while
promoting peace.
Services offered include: Zambuko Mbira Lecture/Demo®,
Zambuko Mbira Performance & Experience®,
Zambuko Mbira Workshop - A Spiritual Approach®
and finally a semester long (48 hours) mbira workshop with an emphasis
on the language, history, cultural and religious contexts within
which the music thrives, having done so for more than a thousand
years. -top
Zambuko Spiritual Services®
Zambuko Spiritual Services®
offerings provide unique opportunities for both cultural organizations
and religious institutions to experience the essence of African indigenous
worship. The Rhythm, Ritual & Remembrance Service for
Ancestors® provides a unique opportunity to
honor and remember forefathers and mothers acknowledging their presence
and spiritual guardianship in daily living. Against a backdrop of
mbira music, creation is honored and the gift of life appreciated
through spirit invocation. The Service for Community Affirmation®
borrows heavily from the Shona culture's belief in the critical importance
of extended family as a life-affirming support system. This concept
is an anomaly of Western culture. This service demonstrates the meaning
of life, body and spirit, as well as elements of family and community
personified and embodied in the mbira instrument and its sacred music.
The mbira instrument's realization of society, the significance of
all its members and the call and response framework of its music,
is both the mystery and reality of its healing power at individual,
community and global levels. -top
About Zambuko's Founder & Managing Director
Solomon Murungu was born and grew up in Makoni district
in eastern Zimbabwe. An avid mbira player and Shona culture evangelist,
Mr. Murungu has represented his culture at schools, universities and
cultural festivals in North America. He was advisor to the 1999 Houston
International Festival and has participated in the Boston and Vermont
International Festivals since 1997.
He established the first website dedicated to mbira music, http://www.zambuko.com/mbira.html,
in 1994.
|
|