Insingizi to perform at Mandela centenary show in the US

Austria based Zimbabwean trio Insingizi have been booked to perform a Music For Mandela concerts with Minnesota Ochestra.

From July 13 to Aug. 1, 10 concerts will pay tribute to the great South African statesman Nelson Mandela on the 100th anniversary of his birth. The festival also will serve as a curtain-raiser for Minnesota Orchestra’s pioneering tour of South Africa in August.

African musicians and their continent’s rich choral tradition are strongly represented in the festival lineup. Minnesota Chorale will be joined by Insingizi, a vocal trio from Zimbabwe, for a “Celebrating Mandela at 100” program of South African choral music led by Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Osmo Vänskä (July 20).

Insingizi is a trio that hails from Bulawayo. Its members are Ramadu, Blessings Nqo Nkomo and Vusa Mkhaya. They perform Imbube music in the Ndebele, a language used by the well-known a-cappella-choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo.