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A Malawian cultural dance group popularly known as Redwing Mine Ben Arinoti seems to have made Mutare its home and has revealed its mission to make cultural dance an international subject. The 15-member dance group specializes in the Ben dance and usually uses a native Malawian language called Yawo in conveying its messages.
Speaking in an interview, the band’s artistic director, Tupele Mdala (38) said his group has high hopes of going international while at the same time it will strive to retain its cultural nature.
“We are a cultural group and we intend to remain as such in as far as our approach to music is concerned. However, we intend to go regional and international with time. The whole group is working hard to see to the fruition of that vision,” said Mdala.
“Zimbabwe is home to a lot of Malawians but they do not have much chance to fully practice their culture. Our dance group tries to merge the Zimbabwean and Malawian cultures in the way we do our shows. Our group also strives to send a message of unity within families,”
“Submission of women to their husbands is an important aspect when it comes to keeping families intact and as a group we try at all times to convey this message to our audience,” he continued.
Apart from using cultural dance in entertaining people, the group also makes use of drama.
Mdala also revealed that despite having no albums against their name, the group makes use of live DVDs in showcasing their work to their fans.
Asked what challenges they face as a group, he said most people are yet to understand that art can be a lifestyle hence they continue to face a lot of skepticism from their audiences.
“Most people do not understand that someone can pursue art as a career and be successful. They think it’s for the West. Therefore whenever we try to expand our group and involving school children, most parents are not forth coming and that to some extent is a setback on our part. Most talent remains unexplored because of age,”
“Another challenge we face is that of non payment after working so hard in our performances. Some people think that our services are for free and many a times we do not get paid or we just get food as a token of having spent a day entertaining people,” he said.
Redwing Mine Ben Arinoti dance group were the winners at last year’s Chibuku Neshamwari dance festival held in Dzonzai, Chipinge last year.
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