Contact: Sue Markgraf, (847) 835-6819

Music and dance are part of the life and soul of traditional African religion and the religious expression of the African people.

The voice and the body, the mind and the heart, combine in the dances choreographed by David Gweshe, a National Arts Council of Zimbabwe 2002 National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) recipient. Gweshe has made a name for African culture and its traditions in many countries of the world, including Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Malaysia. His Boterekwa dance group is the oldest and largest dance group in Zimbabwe.

Gweshe’s instruments include the mbira, a ritual instrument used in processionals to lead those who have died to their final resting place, and the marimba, their rhythms outline the stories told through the dances of his group. Gweshe is Korekore, a Shona subculture with a rich history, perpetuated through oral tradition. Gweshe weaves his music and the movements of dance around these oral narratives so they become music dramas, theatrically performed on the stage. Gweshe’s music, unlike other traditional African music, is not fused with modern idioms. It remains pure, presented as it was centuries ago.

The dances evolve around such figures in Korekore traditional culture as the Lion Spirit. The costumes in part create the protagonists and underpin the action, drama, conflicts and resolutions that take place during one dance. There are somersaults, back flips and handstands – each dance is athletic, energized and amazingly physical in the manner of Russian ballet. Each dance is an example of the sheer athletic prowess of the dancers, glistening flesh, beads and feathers coming together, and a rhythm that grasps and transforms the dancers. Gweshe believes that culture can be transmitted by messages, and messages can be transmitted by dance and music, which best articulates the drama underlining all aspects of human behavior.
 
Gweshe won the NAMA award for best choreographer in the country in 2002, a national honor for the work he has done in keeping alive the narratives by which traditional Korekore culture hang together in dance drama. In Chicago, Gweshe will work with Taruwona Mushore, who is known for her deep velvet voice of enormous strength and power. In Zimbabwe, her sound is a nationally known expression of her concern for her country, a clarion call for peace and conciliation. Mushore is backed by her group of mbira players, Taruwona. Clad in black, a solitary figure, Mushore commands the stage and fills the arena with her grand sound.

David Gweshe and his group, and Mushore, along with Taruwona, will powerfully resonate the messages of stone sculpture from Zimbabwe in the outdoor exhibit, “Chapungu: Custom and Legend, A Culture in Stone,” co-presented at the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Garfield Park Conservatory during summer and fall 2003. The co-exhibition has been organized by the Chapungu Sculpture Park, Zimbabwe, and is the climax of a series of installations in botanic gardens the world over.

The sculptures in this exhibition provide similar lessons in African culture and its wisdom, as do the dances and song of David Gweshe and Taruwona Mushore. Coming together, the sculpture, singing, music and dance provide the people of the Chicago area with a “fest” of African culture through the media of sound and stone.

The Chicago Botanic Garden is owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society. Call (847) 835-5440 for information. Garfield Park Conservatory is owned and managed by the Chicago Park District. Call (312) 746-5100 for information. The Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance can be reached at (773) 638-1766, extension 20.
 
[Editors, please note: Slides and digital images with captions are available upon request to Julie McCaffrey. Call (847) 835-8213, or e-mail jmccaffrey@chicagobotanic.org.]