The Sunday Mail
AFRO-FUSION group Mokoomba will be travelling to the US next week where they are set to perform at the Africa Now Concert, which is being held at the world famous Apollo Theatre in New York City on March 26.
This will mark the beginning of their North American tour, which will see them performing at several venues around the US and Canada.
The Africa Now Concert is set to be a milestone for the group considering the iconic nature of the venue, which is one of the most notable structures in the American arts culture.
This concert is held annually and is meant to celebrate the best of African music, with the organisers selecting the acts that they consider to be the exciting artistes from the continent.
Mokoomba will be sharing the stage with Bombino from Niger, Alsarah & The Nubatones from Sudan and Ghana’s Jojo Abot.
Mokoomba
Mokoomba is not new to performing at events of such magnitude having toured extensively around the world.
However, the fact that they have been selected as part of the top acts from the continent is something to celebrate.
Renowned for high energy on stage, coupled with African beats fused with other genres from around the world, the group is poised to set the theatre ablaze on the night.
Besides the Africa Now Concert, they will also be taking their act to other cities including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Quebec City in Canada, Washington DC, and they will round up the tour with a performance at the Savannah Music Festival in Georgia.
Mokoomba’s manager, Marcus Gora said the group was looking forward to performing at the Apollo.
“It’s a big deal for us to get the opportunity to perform at such a famous venue considering its rich artistic history. This is also an opportunity for us to showcase Zimbabwean talent to a different audience.
“This will be our first international tour this year with another one towards the end of the year,” said Gora.
Mokoomba is one of the few Zimbabwean acts that have been spreading local music across the globe.
However, there are some sections who have questioned the profitability of these international tours, stating that most of have very little to show for their exploits.
“People have this perception that when people go on an international tour they are paid large sums of money but what you have to realise is that a lot of factors come to play in the touring circuit. For instance, we do not have any official sponsor as such, have to cover all our expenses, from travel to accommodation, which makes it a bit difficult to break even at the end of the day,” said Gora.
He said despite the fact that the group has been touring many countries in the past few years, it has taken time for their efforts to start paying dividends.
“This industry is lucrative for artistes that tour a lot and have managed to raise their profile — so you will discover that artistes like Salif Keita are the ones who are getting bigger returns from tours.
“These artistes have worked hard and have a lot of years in the industry building their brands and music. For example, Oliver Mtukudzi has worked hard and has more than 60 albums under his belt, which has raised his value to the next level.
“We have been fortunate because we started touring early in our career, maybe earlier than most of the other Zimbabwean bands, but we have to work hard to develop our name and contacts to go far.”
“We were a young band that had been touring for one or two years and I don’t think it was fair for people to expect us to start buying houses and stuff like that at that stage. At the moment, we are doing well and things are getting better though we still need to work to get to the level of great artistes who have made it big on the world stage,” he added.
Mokoomba is a six-member band that hails from Victoria Falls and have been playing together since childhood.
Their first big break was in 2008 after they won the Music Crossroads Inter-regional Festival Competition in Malawi, and they have since toured more than 40 countries, performing at some of the most prestigious music festivals from around the globe.
The group has been featured on BBC’s “Later with Jools Holland”, a flagship music show which presents legendary musicians and brand new acts from around the world.
They have won several international and local awards that include a Song-lines Music Award for Best Newcomer in 2013, Nama Arts Personality of the Year 2013, Zima Top Touring Artist of the Year 2013, the Zim Achievers award for International Best Touring Artist 2014 and the ZIMA award for Best International Achiever 2014.
