AWARD-WINNING Switzerland-based Zimbabwean saxophonist and singer, Vee Mukarati is in the country to perform at this year’s edition of the Zimbabwe Jazz Festival hosted by the Alliance Francaise network in Harare and Bulawayo between today and tomorrow.
His arrival is just in time for a performance with the global music collective, the “Frank Salis Experience — The Zambezi Sessions”.
This ensemble is led by Swiss composer and hammond organ virtuoso Frank Salis.
It was brought together by the embassies of Switzerland, United States, and France in Zimbabwe, Italy in Zambia, and the Alliance Française de Harare.
It comprises vocalist and music educator Theresa Muteta, drummer Max Covini (Italy), Afro-fusion guitarist and composer Mr Chanx (Zambia) trombonist and producer Alex Wasily (US).
Today in Bulawayo, Mukarati will take the stage alongside Afro jazz songbird Dudu Manhenga, the Tich Makalisa Band, and the Frank Salis Experience.
Mukarati, who is also a composer and producer, is a graduate of music institutions in Ireland and Switzerland and is considered a rising star on the European jazz scene.
Festival enthusiasts will be thrilled to know he will be making a second appearance tomorrow at Alliance Française de Harare for the final leg of the jazz extravaganza.
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The eight-hour event will feature Rute Mbangwa, Josh Meck, NokuTenda and The Legacy Band, Frank Salis Experience and Mbare Jazz.
The latter was born from the vision of cultural archivist Joyce Jenje Makwenda. Its band members include veteran artists Filbert Marova, Isaac Chirwa, Tafadzwa Marova, Tbright Chisvo and Buhle.
The festival line-up also includes Mahlaba (Charles Banda), the Bulawayo-based artistic director of the acclaimed arts ensemble Sunduza.
The festival is presented by the Zimbabwe Jazz Community Trust (ZJCT) and Alliance Francaise. It is running for the fourth time in Bulawayo and the eighth time in the capital. “The Alliance Francaise in Zimbabwe has been a long and strong facilitator of the arts, and valuable partner in the production of the festival.
“We thank them for their continued support over the years," Marova, the artistic director of ZJCT, said. Meanwhile, the Frank Salis-led project was initiated by the Swiss Embassy, which is also a festival partner.”
The embassy’s cultural programmes also engage with the creative scenes of Malawi and Zambia. “These guys met each other for the first time seven days ago,” Stefano Berti, the head of co-operation and deputy head of mission for Switzerland said during a festival presser hosted at the Alliance Francaise de Harare this past Monday.
He pointed out that one of the ideas that he has been sharing with colleagues was to build around the friendships and long standing ties between Zambia and Zimbabwe in order to have a cultural melting pot that will translate directly into music.
The collaborative band kicked off their tour in Zambia on September 5 where they performed at the Zambian Italian Cultural Centre in Lusaka and have since made stops in Mutare and Victoria Falls.
“I played with Frank Salis at a festival in Switzerland this past April,” Mukarati shared with IndependentXtra.
Having arrived in Switzerland seven years ago, he now leads a 12-piece band called Vee Mukarati and the Horn of Hope.
The band has performed at festivals across Switzerland and Europe, including the Paléo Festival Nyon, Cully Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Café, and JazzOnze among others.
Mukarati revealed that in February he will be recording his third album, an eight-track project titled Horn of Hope.
The album is scheduled for release under the French record label Nyami Nyami on October 30 next year. It is a follow up to Nyamavhuvhu Night Sounds (2017) and Vital Signs (2020).
A winner of the 2024 Casino Barrière Prize for Talent and Creativity, Mukarati is in his final year of a masters in Jazz Pedagogy at the Haute Ecole De Musique in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“I will be graduating next year in May. I am also teaching jazz singing at the Conservatoire populaire de musique in Geneva,” he added.
