The Zawose Queens (TZ)

About

Pendo and Leah Zawose are the first women in their celebrated musical family to carry forward the polyphonic singing and fluid polyrhythms of the Gogo people from the Dodoma region in central Tanzania. Their music draws on tradition, nature and ritual, and they sing entirely in Kigogo, their mother tongue, celebrating a love of music, the wonders of everyday life, and pride in their East African roots. Between them they play marimba, illimba, muheme, djembe, congas and percussion, and they weave those traditional instruments together with electronics to create something that feels both ancient and alive. Their debut album Maisha follows in the footsteps of their father and grandfather, the late Dr. Hukwe Zawose, whose reputation made the family name synonymous with Tanzanian musical heritage. Live, The Zawose Queens fold dance into the performance, turning each show into the kind of ecstatic, full body experience that the music seems to demand.