Macharangwanda has 7 tracks

• 2nd song called Goto-goto: A goat with a bad smell due to spending many years without bathing. Someone starts complaining about the bad smell.
• 3rd Vese-All are orphans. I feel sorry for my parents and us grand children. No one remains has no favourities.
• 4th Hutsinye- Cruelty. A man who treats his family badly, abusing his wife and children by beating them all the time. He does not want to hear nonsense from his wife since he paid dowry(lobola) to the parents.
• 5th Zimbabwe: It is my bonzo renyama-meat and bone. My chocolate. I like Zimbabwe more than anything else. I feel proud of my country.
• 6th Hamawe-e: Relatives. There he is and you are staring at him with a glass eye, looking at him. WHY?
• 7th Tsvaratsvata: Feet. A man who is really greed needs big pieces of meat in his plate.

These songs brings out the current issues in our current Zimbabwe tradition. We wish to present different perspectives of people of Zimbabwe through music, our culture is transmitted and discussed. We like to share with the audience and we welcome any questions or comments you may have.

Buy Macharangwanda CD/cassette at a special offer only for you.

Please contact: ManLuckerz / The Zim-Traditional Unity
info@manluckerz.org

OR

Gramma Records/Zimbabwe Music Corperation
Mr E. Vhori/ Mr Ruziwa, 249 William way Masasa / Harare
Zimbabwe
gramma@africaonline.com
Phone: 00 263 4 480 111/ 00 263 23 516 475

What is coming in the few months time: ManLuckerz's second album is a fantastic one with The Zim-Traditional Unity (ZIM-TU)rhythm. It is about the poverty, encouragement: how to achieve your goals, domestic issues and how to preserve your culture/identity as a person. New Release Pandiri-Where I'm by th end of April 2007. Please order it now.

ManLuckerz & The ZimTraditional Unity (ZIM-TU)- Album: Pandiri(Where I'm). It has 6 tracks.

Album Text &Tracks-

1- Pandiri: Where I'm. The song talks about how ManLuckerz has gone through hardships during his childhood. It also informs the young generation that success does not come cheaply; one should work hard to achieve one's objectives and goals. It is not easy to live like a king; one should fight for a better life. It is vanity to sit on one's hands and think that life will change for the better on its own or think that God/ancestors will help or come and provide, whilst one is not working hard. Life is all about struggling and overcoming.

2- Kukwangwaya: To suffer/poverty. The song is about suffering due to a shortage of food and medicine. It calls on who have something to give a helping hand to those without. It asks the ancestors (vadzimu), how their new born baby can survive in the world of competition without the basic necessities of life.

3- Makandire-Muzani: My grandparents' names. A song to thank to my ancestors for protecting me from evil spirit. Thus, I have managed to cross all the boarders without trouble. It's a song of praise to my father's totem and my mother's totem. It tells them to keep it up, to be with me and my family, wherever I go.

4- Mhazi: Explains about what care/respect should be given to the children. Children shouldn't be abused just because they are children. Children will be the chiefs of the village, leaders of tomorrow, they need more respect more than anything else. Children's voices are important in their own right and have to be heard by who ever is next to them. First preference has to be given to our children in every step/decision that we intend to take/decide and that make a better world.

5- Zvinogumbura: It upsets. What if it was you involved in a difficult family affair? For example; your sister is being abused, oppressed, and treated like a nonentity just because she does not satisfy her husband's demands in bed. She is chased away from home just because she doesn't dance the way her husband wanted her to. Should we treat our sisters in a barbaric manner just because they are women? Should women be under men's feet or without a voice? I say no, it really makes Madhinga sad, really makes Baba Thula upset. A real man does not abuse women just because they are women, no!

6- Vasharukwa: Ancestors. What a wonderful role you have played for my success. I did not know that my dreams will one day come true. I really appreciate your kindness and encouragement in the struggle for survival. "Vadzimu vangu" you mean a lot for me. I know that you are there, you are there for me, and you are there to protect me from curses cast upon me by enemies.

Songs composed and arranged by ManLuckerz (L. Chezhira C)

Please contact: ManLuckerz / The Zim-Traditional Unity
info@manluckerz.org

MUSIC AND DANCE: THE ZIMBABEAN EXPERIENCE

1) THE ROLE OF MUSIC IN AFRICAN CULTURE

In African culture, music plays many roles. Music accompanies the life of an African from birth to the grave. The following are some of the events that are marked by music and dance:

a) Baby welcome and naming ceremonies where the child is introduced to the outside world and given a name.

b) Initiation ceremonies, such as circumcision amongst the Varemba people of Zimbabwe.

c) Rituals and sacrifices. Religious activities among the Shona are accompanied by music.

d) Death and funeral. There are songs of lamenation and mourning.

e) Working songs, such as Sevenza nhamo ichauya. In the traditional Shona society they had a communal approach and different households came together for planting, harvesting, threshing, accompanied with singing, etc.

f) Songs for hunting and healing:

Eg: Musango ndodzungaira nedondo, Madora mazhata mbuya tatenda.

g) Protest songs for complaining about those in authority.

2) MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN SHONA MUSIC

Numerous musical instruments were used in traditional Zimbabwean music. Some of these instruments were available to the Shona people since the remote past. The instruments include:

a) Trumpets and horns (Hwamanda, Nyere)

b) Musical bows (Chipendani)

c) Hand rattles (Hosho)

d) Leg rattle (magavhu/magagada)

e) Wooden clappers (Hwakwati/makwa)

f) Marimba

g) Mbira

h) Drums

The influence of Christianity and colonialism has seen the adoption of Western instruments.

Drums are very important in the traditional dances of the people of Zimbabwe. Some of the drums are tall (mutandarikwa) and can only be played while standing. These tall drums are especially found among the Karanga people of Southern Zimbabwe. They were played for the Shangara dances. Drums had a lot of social significance among the community. They served several purposes. These include:

a) Providing musical accompaniment

b) Sending signals or messages associated with an approaching army

c) Communicating death messages, especially those of chiefs

d) Symbolizing ancestral authority

It is crucial to remember that the Shona people were/are an oral community. Writing as a means of communication is a recent experience. In the traditional context, much of the communication took place through oral strategies. The drum was an effective communication instrument in the pre-colonial days. Women were however not allowed to play drums, particularly the small one that is tucked between the legs for practical purposes. Ritually, menstruating women were excluded from participating in ancestral issues.

3)TRADITIONAL DANCES IN ZIMBABWE

Shona music is both recreational and ceremonial. In recreational music, the people utilize music for leisure. They used it to relax and enjoy themselves. Ceremonial music has to do with the worship of the ancestral spirits. While the Shona people of Zimbabwe believe in One Creator God, Mwari, they also believe that the ancestral spirits are mediators between God and the people. Regular ceremonies are held where beer is dedicated to the ancestors. Music and Dance characterize such gathering that may take several days.

When discussing the importance of traditional dances among the Shona people of Zimbabwe, it is critical that we remember that the term ´´Shona`` is an umbrella concept for related ethnic groups in the country. While they speak related dialects and have hade common historical experiences, they are also marked by salient culture differences. The Karanga, Zezuru, Manyika, Korekore, Budya, and Ndau communities generally make up the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It is the largest ethnic group, together with the Ndebele making up about 98% of the indigenous population of the country. Geographical distribution is as follows: Korekore in northern Zimbabwe, Zezuru in the central region, the Karanga in the south-central area, the Manyika in the central eastern part, and the Ndau in the southeastern part. Various dance routines have developed in the different linguistic and cultural areas. However, with urbanization and greater movement of ideas and practices in the postcolonial period, many of the dances are now common to the different parts of the country. A good example is how the mbira musical instrument that was confined to central and northern areas is now played across the country.

Why has dance been important to the various cultural groups found in the country? For the African, musical sound is rather incomplete if it is not accompanied by some movement. Dancing is a useful way through which the community releases emotions. The frustrations of life, its joys and sorrows, all find expression in music and dance. But the dances also have deeper significance. They are used to convey feelings of friendship, hostility, and many others. The dances of Zimbabwe reflect the peoples' response to the environment.

MANLUCKERZ AND THE ZIM-TRADITIONAL MUSIC

Aims And Objectives:

• To contribute to national and international development by promoting the performing arts as a viable industry for example: to train as many children and adults as possible.
• To break the circle of poverty by implementing new ideas amongst ourselves.
• To promote Zimbabwe traditional music in the society through undertaking activities which include the community at large and world wide.
• To raise the necessary financial resource of self-reliance.
• To encourage artists to organize themselves and to exercise newly acquired skills co-operating for the improvement of ourselves and the society.

.To entertain, educate and inform audience.

.To create awareness amongst young people to let them fulfill their capacity to contribute in the development of harmony.

INTERESTED IN OUR WORK?

ManLuckerz and The Zim-Traditional Unity is always ready to be hired or called for performances, functions, seminars, parties, launchings, state functions and official openings.

DONATIONS

Donations: Interested partners wishing to donate in cash or kind are welcome to support or promote ManLuckerz and The Zim-Traditional Unity.

For more information please do not hesitate to contact ManLuckerz:

Please contact: ManLuckerz / The Zim-Traditional Unity


Email:	info@manluckerz.org
Telephone:	00.46.(0)73 951 73 02
Address: C/O Chikutu ManLuckerz and The Zim-Traditional Unity (ZIM-TU)	Uppsala 752 66 Uppsala Sweden