Rutendo is the Shona word for "gratitude, desire to give thanks."
Rutendo! Marimba Band plays the Shona music of Zimbabwe, performing at community events and private celebrations. This is high-energy, joyful dance music! The band's members have come from a number of schools in the Ashland, Oregon area--
Ashland Middle, Willow Wind, Ashland High and Southern Oregon University.
The director of the band is local music educator,
Jan Christensen.
The band plays this distinct, complex style of music with its interweaving lines and compelling rhythms on marimbas, mbiras and drums. From time to time, we have the opportunity to study with Zimbabwean and American teachers.
Rutendo uses the money earned by performing to aid the people of Zimbabwe through donations to various help organizations: Nhimbe for Progress (scholarships), Tareva (orphans from AIDS victims) and Hope First (aid to child head-of-households). The band is currently raising money to have a set of marimbas made in Zimbabwe for 'Serevende' a non-profit organization run by our teacher, Musekiwa Chingodza. The marimbas will be for the use of the primary school in his village.
Rutendo is a joyful group of musicians who love Shona music and desire to bring it to the community. This band provides an opportunity for developing musicians to become increasingly "self-directing" so that the band will grow as a community as the members become independent young adults.
Together, we celebrate the opportunity to be of service and to focus our music-making energies as a close-knit group of musicians.
Rutendo is brought to you by:
Mwedzi Wagara Cultural Arts Center
Ashland, Oregon