Zimbabwe’s scintillating new star Blessing ‘Bled’ Chimanga returned to KMMC with his band—DREAMS—to hold a two hour workshop on African music. With his characteristic exuberance, Chimanga, along with his band members, initiated students into the nuances of African rhythms, counts and harmonies, introducing them to the African marimba, percussion and guitar. Students responded enthusiastically as each of the band members in turn demonstrated how music can be transformed to produce vivacious, purely African sounds.
The evening reached its climactic peak when Chimanga, having spoken about how the marimba varies in pitch and style even within the African continent, took to performing for the audience who grooved eagerly to the foot-tapping tunes of this dynamic band all the way from Zimbabwe. The workshop, in collaboration with Quriosity, turned out to be an immense success, marking a promising beginning to the academic session 2022-23.
