AfriPOP! - Global African Culture

As you’re probably already aware, it’s been exactly thirty years since Zimbabwe was declared independent. As a new generation gears itself up to take the reins we thought we’d do a head count of thirty young Zimbabweans whose stories and achievements we would rather celebrate as opposed to the doom and gloom the mainstream media enjoys peddling about Zim.

Some we’ve known all along, others we have recently come up on, some are established, some are on their way, all are living examples that despite what we’re told there are people getting on with it, making a difference in their respective arenas just by doing them.

This list is is in no particular order, and is by no means definitive. We invite you to add more names in the comments. We had fun making the selection and hope you will enjoy reading it too.

Kudzanai Chiurai

If one single person epitomized the Zim 30 as we otherwise refer to this list, Kudzanai  Chiurai would be the one.  Born in 1981 Zimbabwe, he was the first black student to graduate with a BA (fine art) from the university of Pretoria in South Africa where he lives in exile after his early works dared challenge and poke fun at president Robert Mugabe’s politics.

This will be the reason he will often be typecast as a political artist.

Certainly there is no escaping the long shadow of Bob over the lives of Zimbabweans in general but we at AfriPOP! are thoroughly enjoying unpacking the many layers densely contained in Kudzi’s Basquiat and Hip-hop -inspired perspective on African politics, urban living, and identity amongst other things.

He has shown his work in cities like Dakar, Melbourne, London, Cape Town and Johannesburg. That main image up top is his work.

Jozi dwellers can catch his latest exhibition Communists and Hot Chicken Wings, The Birth of a Nation at the Goodman Gallery Project Space until 10 May 2010 .

Danai Gurira

Born in Iowa, raised in Zimbabwe and graduated from New York University, Danai Gurira is a force for African women everywhere. Not only as an actress (The Visitor, Law and Order) but also as a playwright. In The Continuum, a 2006 Pulitzer finalist play which portrays the parallel lives of two women living with AIDS – one in LA, the other in Zimbabwe. And that’s been the mould for her more recent play Eclipsed (2009) in which the characters, former Liberian sex  slaves go about life after their respective horror-filled pasts.

Eska Mtungwadzi

Vocalist, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Eska is one of the great unsung heroes of British music. In a fair and just world she would be bigger than Amy and Alicia, but for now fans have to be content with her scene-stealing guest appearances with the likes of Tony Allen, Ty and Nitin Sawhney. Or even her own recordings which we wish would culminate into an album already. Check out her Shona-spiced rendition of The Police’s Walking on The Moon here. It will do things to ya!

Jonathan Khumbulani Nkala

Playwright/actor/musician/comedian Jonathan Nkala’s play The Crossing does two things: It brings home the plight of immigrants in South Africa and reminds one just how resilient the human spirit can be. Nkala plays himself in the one-man play, which retraces his trek from his home in Zimbabwe across the Limpopo river and into South Africa in search of a better life.  Enroute he loses everything (including the best friend he begun the journey with) except his dream. The Crossing ran at the Grahamstown arts festival in South Africa, and is at the Cape Town theatre until 1 May. Jonathan also appears in Disgrace and String Caesar

Prudence Mabhena

Music By Prudence, the equally devastating and inspiring story about Liyana, a band of 8 Zimbabwean students with varying disabilities who come second in an All Africa music competition, had us in tears even before its recent and rightful Oscar win.

It’s centred around the band leader Prudence Mabhena who suffers horrific neglect and abandonment in her childhood due to arthrogryphosis (a rare disorder that severely deforms the joints of the body) but then comes into herself, finds her singing voice, even composing in five languages, and choreographing dance from her wheelchair.

Ellah Allfrey

A former senior editor at Jonathan Cape, Allfrey became one of the most powerful women in publishing when she was made deputy editor of literary magazine Granta last year. A tireless champion of new African writing, she has edited the likes of Brian Chikwava and Dinaw Mengestu, and will be on the judging panel of this year’s Caine Prize.

Thandie Newton

Not a lot of introduction needs to be made about this A-list Zimbabwean/English actress, without a doubt one of the most successful in Britain (where she is based) having proved herself with roles in films like Run Fat Boy Run, The Pursuit of Happiness, her bafta-winning one in Crash and also as Condoleezza Rice in W.

Marsha Gosho Oakes

In a world where too many hopped the blogging bandwagon with no other motivation than cyber celebrity, sites like www.soulculture.co.uk restore our faith in good old-fashioned content-driven reporting. Every blogger knows the challenge it is to bring something fresh to the interwebs quickly and consistently. Marsha Gosho Oakes, the Zimbabwean/Irish editor-in-chief, rises to it every time with her work ethic and finger on seemingly every pulse.

Vimbai Muthinhiri

A bit of an it girl at the moment, Vimbai is based in South Africa where she is steadily racking up the magazine covers based on her affiliation with Bio Oil, Estee Lauder, and most recently she has been made the face of urban fashion label Baby Phat.

Kirsty Coventry

Zimbabwe’s golden girl is a world record-holding, gold medal-owning swimmer who bagged three medals (a gold, a silver, and a bronze) at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and four medals (a gold and three silver) in Beijing. Alongside former Manchester City striker Benjani Mwaruwari and cricketer Andy Flower she is one of a handful of Zimbabwean sports stars who are helping to put Zim on the map for all the right reasons.

Petina Gappah

So far, Geneva-based legal aid counsellor for developing countries Petina Gappah has held our attention with her short fiction and essays as well as her awesome blog.  Here for instance, in a  hilarious letter to the pope, she confesses that she voluntarily became a Catholic just to taste the holy communion wafer, and notifies him of the various sexual  plunders of his clergy. Her 2009 collection of short stories Elegy for Easterly won the  Guardian First Book Award and recently made the longlist for the Orwell prize.

(Watch her interview with BBC World Service’s Bola Mosuro about it here.)

We look forward to  her first novel, The Book of Memory to be published in January 2011.

Lucian Msamati

Hands down, Msamati is one of Africa’s finest thesps. Whether he’s playing a lovesick mechanic in the No 1 Ladies Dectective Agency or a Mugabe-inspired tyrant in stage version of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Msamati brings intellect and humanity to every role. Okay, so his parents are Tanzanian and he was born in the UK. But he was raised in Zim and founded one of the country’s finest theatre companies (Over the Edge) before returning to the UK in 2002 so as far as we’re concerned he qualifies.

Jah seed

What was so great about beloved South African Kwaito group Bongo Maffin was the way the individual members’ very varied appeals came together. Zimbabwean dancehall MC Adrien Anesu Mphemi aka  Jah Seed brought Shona inflections to their overall sound.

He and party partner Admiral have between them held down the small but loyal following of South African revellers for whom their weekly dancehall night is a pilgrimage.

Priscilla Chigariro

International catwalk and photographic model-turned-fashion entrepreneur Priscilla Chigariro Priscilla Chigariro did the sensible thing when she found there was no platform in Zimbabwe for her to showcase the accessories, belts and shoes she created as part of her brand Chrome. She decided to create one herself. Also the founder of Bitter Candy, an interior design company, she is the creator and executive producer of Zimbabwe Fashion Week launched in South Africa in December 2009. Zimbabwe’s first ever fashion week is set to happen late in April.

Taponeswa Mavunga

You might have caught this yummy mummy-of-one in Trace Magazine’s 2007 Black Girls Rule issue, or the year after in the same magazine featured in their Women in Music campaign in association with Puma. That will be due to ten years spent in the music business either making stars out of singers like Estelle and Laura Izibor or ensuring the shine stays bright for Diddy, Jay Z Brandy, Sean Paul, T.I in her role as award-winning (2009 Record Of The Day Award for PR Campaign for JAY-Z)

Her passion for Zimbabwe drives her support work for Ndoro Children’s Charity, most recently, the NdoroCC Zimbabwe Pearl Ball.

Tinashe

Electro-soul newcomer Tinashe has had the asymmetrical haircut posse in a lather for minute with his plinky synth-laden art pop. If the caustic tale of love gone bad that is the title track to his Mayday EP is any sign of things to come, we can’t wait for the long-player.

Terrie Gunz

Tererai Avalon Mahati aka Terrie Gunz’ love for Hip-hop and design must be the inspiration behind his street-ready clothing label Harare Hustlers. The son of a former lingerie designer (according to www.greedysouth.blogspot.com), he was part of the first wave of young Zimbabweans to create Hip-hop locally.

His nickname Harare Hustler was coined because of his DIY entrepreneurial attitude. Wearing a t-shirt with the words he emblazoned on a t-shirt himself kickstarted demand for the tees which are all over his London base currently.

Sam Mtukudzi

Multi-instrumentalist Sam Mutukudzi braved the path beaten by his legendary father Oliver, never letting the potentially daunting father-son comparisons keep him from making his own mark before he died tragically in March 2010. His professional recording career took him all around the world and made him a staple at the Zimbabwe’s Harare International Festival of the Arts (H.I.F.A), South Africa’s Cape town International jazz festival, and many others. A reworked version of Oliver’s classic Tozeza appears on Sam’s debut album Rume rimwe. Rest in power, young man.

Michael Bhim

Since this young British-Zimbabwean playwright burst made a strong debut with Pure Gold at the Soho Theatre in 2007, Bhim has been building a name for himself with work for the Royal Court,Tricycle, Paines Plough and Nitro. With TV pilot for Channel 4 on the way and a BBC radio play (Look Closer) in the bag, we will be hearing more of Bhim in the future.

Farai Gundan

Girl-about-town Farai Gundan covers the the fabulous lives of black celebrities on Black Tree TV, and is also the editor of her own fun website where she does more of the same as well as give to the minute updates on what’s going on with African celebrities on the continent.

Brian chikwava

London-based Zimbabwean writer Brian Chikwava’s 2004 Caine prize-winning short story 7th Street Alchemy was the first we heard of him. Only to be further bedazzled by Harare North (published in 2009), in which the sometimes-musician believably relays an immigrant’s experience  of London through a story that is disturbing and extremely gratifying. The novel is one of the only two fiction books that made the Orwell Prize long list. (Petina Gappah’s is the other one)

Zubz

Accomplished artist that he is, Zimbabwean/Zambian Zubz’ repertoire as an MC speaks for itself. Currently he helms a much-needed monthly live Hip-hop music session called The Golden Mic nights – think Jools Holland but with rap. Classics songs like Handiende have helped write him into the ranks of the region’s finest. But that’s not all that’s about special him. His mentoring programme for young people with British Council called Power In The Voice, formalized what he sees as his real calling. Sharing his art with young people in Southern Africa and in the UK brand him, as he puts, an authentic urban culture mouthpiece for young and aspirant Africa. We wish more rappers would do this kind of thing.

Chipo Chung

Tanzanian-born, Zimbabwean actress Chipo Chung’s acting ability has an impressive range that spans film (Proof, Sunshine), theatre (Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre), radio (The Way We Live Right Now) and television (Doctor Who) roles.

She’s also the director of S.A.F.E (Sponsored Arts for Education) a charity which employs the use of theatre and community activities to reach the least accessible areas in Kenya to spread awareness about AIDS.

Gedion Nyanhongo

Sculptor Gedion Nyanhongo (son of Shona art pioneer Claud) uses stone (nyanga, opal etc) as his canvass, to create elegant expressions of the political and personal. He’s been exhibited all over the world and if catching him online isn’t enough (www.gedionnyanhongo.com) you can see his work on display at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Netsayi

They call her the African Tracey Chapman but it’s hard to imagine Ms Fast Cars singing a neck-snapping diss song titled Weaves and Magazines. But that’s why we love Netsayi. Ever since she debuted with her critically-acclaimed 2006 LP Chimurenga Soul she has been doing her thing, her way, and we love it so.

Farai chideya

Journalist and author Farai Chideya’s novel Kiss The Sky – the story of a black, female rock musician in her 30s attempting a career comeback – Essence Magazine’s thumbs up (May 2009 book of the month) and ours too.

We love how Farai, born to an American mother and Zimbabwean father, continues to keep the culture and race dialogue fresh. See her nonfiction books Trust: Reaching the 100 Million Missing Voters, The Colour of Our Future, and Don’t Believe The Hype: Fighting Cultural Misinformation About African Americans.

Also check out this video project she calls Halfrican on her site where she explores her family’s history.

Benjani Mwaruwari

Since the glory days of Bruce Grobbelaar and Peter Ndlovu, the Premiership hasn’t exactly been awash with Zimbabwean footballing talent. But there’s one player still flying the flag for world class footy from Zimmy and that’s Benjani Mwaruwari, former Manchester City striker (currently on loan to Sunderland) and current Zimbabwe team captain.

Audius Mtawarira

Most records that this Harare-born, Australia-based pop singer/songwriter/producer touches generally go gold and upwards. He produced and co-wrote the highest selling single in Australia in 2009 under the auspices of his own Sound Academy Studios and Blindfaith Entertainment. On top of that he owns clothing label Shona Clothing.

Carl Joshua Ncube

A pioneering animator, Carl Ncube wrote and directed Nyami-Nyami, the first animated film to be shown in the history of the Zimbabwe International Film Festival. He also spreads his visual artistic talent to awards shows – he is the executive producer of this year’s Zimbabwe International Music Festival.

Shingai Shoniwa

In how many more ways can we say Noisettes’ lead singer is dope besides like this and like this and like this? Probably a few more, but then that would constitute obsession…

Wait there’s more: Robert Mugabe ringtone causes a stir // African comics on the rise // zim billion dollar notes on sale on ebay //Zimbabwe’s First Ever Fashion Week //Shingai Shoniwa in Essence Mag // AfriPOP! video interview: Tinashe // Get to know: Zubz // AfriPOP! interview: Netsayi // Zubz guest blogs: The growing pains of manhood // 50 Books every African should read //10 Hollywood castings in African hero roles