THE BELOVED BLACK UMFOLOSI BACK AT THE RAINFOREST WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL
By Yeoh Jun Lin | Artistic Director - Rainforest World Music Festival

They look like mighty Zulu warriors and they dance and leap and whoop like fierce Zimbabwean males, but they produce some of the sweetest tonal harmonies and the most tender and spiritual and endearing songs.

This is the BLACK UMFOLOSI 5 who have won many hearts at two past Rainforest World Music Festivals over the last 9 years.

They will be part of the reunion festival that is planned for the huge 10th Anniversary that the organizer, the Sarawak Tourism Board, is doing.

It is also Black Umfolosi’s own 25th birthday so it will be a double celebration, come July at the Santubong festival site of the Sarawak Cultural Village.

The group was formed in 1982 while at school in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. The original 6 members were bored with the lack of entertainment facilities so got together to sing traditional songs as a show for their fellow school mates one night. It was a huge success and they became a much sought-after group to sing in numerous functions and events.

Gradually they grew to an 18 member group. Their name was taken from the Umfolosi River that flowed through the Natal provinces where their ancestors lived before migrating north to Matebeleland, as well as being named after the Black Umfolosi Regiment who were crack Zulu troops whose leader Mzilakazi rebelled against Chaka Zulu and founded the Ndebele society during the 1830’s.

They sing a capella songs of the city – also known as mbube. These are very uplifting, feel-good songs – some traditional, some written by the musicians themselves. There are songs based on  war poetry and proverbial sayings that were used in the past to encourage warriors or to celebrate their victories; there are songs on the problems faced by modern society and the tragedies that befall man; there are traditional love songs and there are also gospel songs of the afterlife. Characteristic of the songs are that they have a sweet high leading melody, four part harmony and a predominance of bass voices.

Then they can switch dramatically over to a political dance called the ingquzu, which is done bare-chested and in miners’ gumboots and hard hats where they vigorously stamp and smack while complaining about low wages and appalling work conditions. The stamping and smacking is to mime miners trying to remove the dust and mud when they came out of work. This dance is now popular in pubs and parties all over South Africa.

Then again, another switch, and they are in full finery of Zulu warrior costumes performing energetic and frenzied war dances.

It is pure entertainment from start to finish interspersed with clicking, clapping and a few shouts and leaps.

The musical culture of Zimbabwe mostly revolves round the Shona mbira traditions but Black Umfolosi will be presenting the migratory influence of Ndebele music. To take this music to all corners of the world is important to them. But the preservation of this culture is their mission. This is why they have set up foundations and training programmes to provide workshops, educational and development work with universitiesm schools, hospitals, prisons, community centres and art institutions in Zimbabwe. They identify and help train and mentor youth groups along their path to a music career.

This is why some of the best workshops at the Rainforest World Music Festival will be with Black Umfolosi on the afternoons of the festival weekend.

The festival dates are the 13th, 14th and 15th of July. Tickets are already on sale and can be bought online at http://www.ticketcharge.com.my/  as well as at all Visitor Information Centres in Kuching, Miri and Sibu.

Tickets are priced at RM80 for a one day Adult Pass, and RM200 for a 3-day Adult Pass. Children aged 3 – 12 years of age can purchase half priced tickets.

More information on the festival can also be found on the website www.rainforestmusic-borneo.com

Black Umfolosi will be one of the many international and local groups that will be at the festival, now well-known for its penetrating hunts for as much contrasting music as possible every year.

Apart of being a highly memorable act, the musicians of the band are also some of the most engaging and gentlest of spirits one can ever hope to meet.

Yeoh Jun Lin
Artistic Director
Rainforest World Music Festival