ZIMBABWE’S Afro-fusion boy band Mokoomba are set to perform at the 53rd edition of New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in the US state of Louisiana on 25 April 2024.
JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA
The award-winning band will then head to the Jazz Café in London, United Kingdom on 21 August 2024 for yet another world-class performance.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, or as the locals call it, Jazz Fest, is the celebration of the unique culture and heritage of New Orleans and Louisiana.
Featuring an endless amount of music, succulent local and regional delicacies, one-of-a-kind handmade arts and crafts, second-line parades and so much more – there is something for everyone at the Jazz Fest.
According to the official website, over the years the Jazz Fest has received many honours, including being named Festival of the Year four times by Pollstar magazine.
“The Wall Street Journal says Jazz Fest ‘showcases a wider, deeper lineup of essential American musical styles than any festival in the nation . . .’.” and Life magazine has called the Jazz Fest ‘the country’s very best music festival’.”
With 13 stages of soul-stirring music—jazz, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, blues, R&B, rock, funk, African, Latin, Caribbean, folk, and much more—the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is a singular celebration.
The event has showcased most of the great artises of New Orleans and Louisiana of the last half-century: Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, The Neville Brothers, Wynton Marsalis, Dr John, Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr, Ellis Marsalis, The Radiators, Irma Thomas, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Allen Toussaint, Buckwheat Zydeco, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Better Than Ezra, Ernie K-Doe, Vernel Bagneris, The Zion Harmonizers, Beausoleil, and many others.
And for those not in the know, Mokoomba is made of high school friends, Mathias Muzaza – lead vocals, percussion, Trustworth Samende – guitar, backing vocals, Abundance Mutori – bass, backing vocals, Donald Moyo – keyboard, backing vocals, Ndaba Coster Moyo– drums, backing vocals and Miti Mugande – percussion, backing vocals.
Their music or rather sound is influenced by Zimbabwean traditions and what sets them apart from the rest is the delivery in languages that represent the country’s diverse cultures and people.
It could be Tonga, Shona, Luvale, Ndebele and English appealing to a wider crossover audiences.
So far the band has toured wide and far, buoyed by their albums Kweseka (Zig Zag World, 2009), Rising Tide (Zig Zag World, 2012), Luyando (Outhere Records, 2017) and the latest Tusona.
Mokoomba brings a rich African sound to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage, sharing the stage with some of the greatest music bands, including the likes of The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, Chris Stapleton, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, The Killers, Queen Latifah, Widespread Panic, Bonnie Raitt who once did a rendition of Oliver Mtukudzi’s Hear Me Lord, Fantasia, Earth, Wind & Fire, Big Freedia, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and Juvenile with Mannie Fresh from the old skool hip-hop era.
The 53nd edition of what is officially the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell encompasses two four-day weekends at the Fair Grounds, April 25-28 and May 2-5, filling 14 stages each day.
This year’s festival spotlights the music and culture of Colombia. Seventeen Colombian bands, as well as Indigenous and Afro-Colombian artisans, will be featured at the festival’s newly rechristened
Expedia Cultural Exchange Pavilion and elsewhere.
