The Sunday Mail
Netsayi Chigwendere
AFTER spending a decade developing her reputation as a singer/songwriter and composer in the United Kingdom, Netsayi Chigwendere has finally come to what could be her defining moment.
Perhaps her many years of performing at the Harare International Festival of the Arts have prepared her for new task of composing music for Grammy-Award winning US choir – Historic Wall Street Church.
The artiste, who fuses traditional and contemporary instruments and genres, has to come up with two major projects in the United States.
And in November, Chigwendere who trades simply as Netsayi, will have her original music featured in “Epiphany”, described as “an exuberant ode to life”, as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival and performed by the Grammy Award-winning Young People’s Chorus of New York City.
Thereafter, the premiere of her mass, commissioned by the historic Trinity Church at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway, will come in January 2016.
Featuring text by celebrated writer and fellow Zimbabwean, Blessing Musariri, the mass will debut at the 2016 Trinity Institute theological conference titled “Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice”.
“This is a dream job and probably one of most ambitious compositions I’ve ever undertaken – it’s simultaneously inspiring and terrifying! I hope to re-imagine traditional Southern African choral conventions, ubiquitous at home but probably unfamiliar to most New Yorkers,” said Netsayi.
“The challenge for Blessing and I is to create something reverential, specific and unique, but of universal beauty.”
Her music has been described by The New York Times as “a succinct definition of just what song is: a personal utterance with global reach and universal impact”.
Netsayi, backed by Black Pressure Band, has capitalised on rapturously received recent shows on NPR and at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
She has performed on some of London’s most famous stages, including the Royal Albert and Festival halls. And she has two albums, “Monkey’s Wedding” and “Chimurenga Soul”.
On the international scene, she has shared the stage with the likes of Hugh Masekela, Boubacar Traore, Ladysmith Black Mambabzo and K’Naan.
Netsayi grew up in a musical household and the soundtrack to her childhood was diverse-traditional songs and local pop competing with reggae, soul and folk.
She lives in Harare, having returned from the UK in 2011.
“We played at Hifa every year since I’ve been back – always on the Lays Global Stage until last year and this year when we performed on the Telecel Main Stage. In the US we have played on some major stages including at Celebrate Brooklyn 2014 and on National Public Radio in NY, among others.”
