Traditional songs and dance from Zimbabwe coming to Guelph
GUELPH – With more than three decades of international touring Black Umfolosi International comes to River Run Centre’s Main Stage on Feb. 26 at 8pm.
In 1982, in the city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, a group of students wanted a means of entertaining themselves and their community. This is how Black Umfolosi started. From there, the original six members spent many years growing and touring the world.
About four decades later, in 2023, Black Umfolosi International (BUI) was formed as the Canadian branch of the original troupe. BUI consists of six passionate and talented artists who continue to represent original African performance around the world.
The group specializes in imbube music, a form of a cappella made popular by the famous South African choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. BUI puts their own twist on the genre with a fusion of traditional Zulu music and more modern genres, performed in the Ndebele and Zulu languages of South Africa.
Along with their singing, the group incorporates traditional Zulu dance throughout the performance.
One of the highlights is their rendition of gumboot dancing, an art form with a rich history, which evolved in the mining camps of South Africa. This physically demanding movement features bare chested dancers wearing hard hats and long rubber boots, simultaneously playing percussion while dancing.
Tickets to Black Umfolosi International are $49 for adults, $47 for patrons over 60 years old, $39 for those under 30 and $29 for those under 14. For more information or to purchase call 519-763-3000, visit River Run’s Box Office at 35 Woolwich St., Guelph or visit riverrun.ca/whats-on/black-umfolosi-international/.
