Maru-a-Pula Marimba Band
2002 North American Tour
The Maru-a-Pula Marimba Band, one of the premier musical ensembles of Southern Africa, will tour Canada and the northeastern United States from April 17th to May 12th. The band will visit a number of schools and universities from Washington to Boston, including Williams College, Brown University, and Tufts University.
The Maru-a-Pula (MAP) Marimba Band is a ten-piece marimba band from an independent secondary school in Gaborone, Botswana. The majority of the students in the band are young women, contradicting the marimba band tradition as male dominated. The band’s innovation does not stop there, however, for they play all original compositions, blending traditional African, Afro Jazz, African Pop and contemporary music. Their reputation for delivering a charismatic and captivating concert experience filled with infectious, polyrhythmic energy has carried them all over Southern Africa, including the Grahamstown Arts Festival, the University of Cape Town’s Baxter Theater, and as afar afield as the SESC POMPEIA Music Festival in Brazil.
They recently recorded their first full length CD, "Tears of Joy", in South Africa at the SABC studios in Johannesburg in September 2001. Throughout the upcoming North American tour, the band will offer a unique mixture of concerts, dancing, lectures, and hands-on workshops where students will get a chance to play the instruments themselves.
Alport Mhlanga, one of the world’s experts on the Kwanongoma Marimba and ethnomusicology in Southern Africa, directs the band. Mr. Mhlanga has spent most of his teaching career in Zimbabwe reviving Marimba culture, composing, and exploring the use of music as a therapeutic medium. He has taught at numerous institutions including the United College of Education in Bulawayo, where he held the position of Dean of Music before taking up the Music Department headship at Maru-a-Pula in 1988.
The MAP marimba band will be visiting the Bayview Glen School, the Hill School, Williams College, Eaglebrook School, Deerfield Academy, Hotchkiss School, Brown University, Milton Academy, Roxbury Latin, Shady Hill School, and Tufts University.