Staff Writer
Three consummate creatives of Zimbabwe will stage a joint performance on Thursday 9 February at Alliance Francaise.
Themed” ‘126 Ways to Love’, the performance stars Dudu Manhenga, Hope Masike and Batsirai Chigama starting at 6-7pm.
Batsirai Chigama, Dudu Manhenga and Hope Masike have worked, played, performed, sang and danced together over the last decade and more, growing and supporting each other in the iconic programme FLAME – for Women Artists by Women Artists – and beyond.
From humble beginnings they have all risen to ‘nother-level’ stages in different parts of the world, proudly carrying some of Zimbabwe’s rich creativity to international audiences in southern Africa, Asia, America and Europe.
Beyond the stage, their creativity has spilled over and they have all taken to the written word, each self-publishing several books of poetry, which have been met with much acclaim.
BATSIRAI CHIGAMA is a performer, poet, literary activist, and social commentator largely associated with spoken word in Zimbabwe. She also writes short fiction and has been published in several short story and poetry anthologies and magazines. She has travelled widely, performing within the Southern African region and beyond.
Her debut collection, “Gather The Children,” won Outstanding First Creative Published Book at the National Arts Merit Awards in 2019. In the same year she was an honorary fellow at the
International Writing Programme (IWP) at Iowa University. In 2021 she released her second poetry collection ‘For Women Trying to Breathe and Failing’, which won the NAMA Outstanding Poetry Book Award in 2022.
The US ‘creative sanctuary’ City of Asylum described her work as “surprising, shocking, and skillfully deliberate work,” and “a breath-taking embodiment of grief.”
Batsirai is passionate about providing alternative narratives to those featured in mainstream media and her work with young people has taken her as far as Denmark and USA, performing and facilitating creative writing and spoken word workshops in schools.
DUDU MANHENGA is an acclaimed contributor to the rich music history of Zimbabwe, whose music has been described as “an afro jazz adventure”. For more than twenty years she has written, recorded and performed for audiences at home, in other parts of Africa and Europe, and brought dignity and respect for Zimbabwe in her travels in the world beyond our borders.
She is also a strong voice in defence of the poor and voiceless; and a supporter of women everywhere. As a singer, lyricist and composer, with 6 music albums in her discography, Dudu’s words have reached the world through music. Now, beyond the stage, her voice turns to the pages of the written word and to the pulpit, where she is an ordained minister under the Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbabwe.
Her written works include a series under the theme ‘3notkord’ – (‘… a cord of 3 strands is not quickly broken’ – Ecclesiastes 4:12): ‘3notkord: Questions, Assumptions and Conclusions (2017); ‘Past, Present & Future’ (2019), and her most recent offering in the series ‘Elements’ [Water, Fire, Wind]. She has also published a devotional on women of the Bible: ‘His Daughters – Destinies’ (2022).
Commonly known and widely acclaimed for her mbira music with 3 albums to her name since 2009, the singer songwriter has entranced audiences performing solo and in exciting collaborations in 16 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the US, Canada and Costa Rica.
In the last few years Hope has seamlessly added the title of ‘writer’ to her name. She published her first poetry book ‘Ask me again’ in February 2020, a collection of poems about time, and women-men relations.
Her second book is entitled ‘Dzevabvazera’, a collection of Shona erotic poems skillfully written in age old Shona, published in 2022.
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