https://youtu.be/plSNV7_lY7E?si=wvpxCB1L639StjaE

There is spirit and fire in the music of The Zawose Queens. There’s the vibrations of the ancestors, coming through on traditional instruments — soaring chizeze fiddle, buzzing illimba thumb piano, ngoma drums that chatter and thunder — and voices that go deep, high and out there.

There’s the connection to nature, to ceremony and ritual, in their dance-inspired fusion, their blend of the organic, harmonic and modern-day electronic. There are lyrics that tell, in their native kigogo, of the passion for music, the wonders of life. Of pride in environment, in tradition. In their [East] African roots.

Maisha, the duo’s stunning debut album, heralds a new era.

Bow down. The Zawose Queens are in the house.

“This is our heritage, performed our way,” say Leah and Pendo Zawose, each Queen a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of enormous, hitherto uncelebrated, talent. “The time has come for the women of the Zawose family to take their rightful place.”