Brian Zanji - Africa-Zalila Ngoma

Brian Zanji is the most notable traditional musician in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. He devotes himself to the traditional music of the Zambian people, to the musical instruments traditionally passed down through the ages, and to the art of narrating fairy tales and stories to children and young people. Brian Zanji has acted as the representative of Zambian culture in his concerts and workshop tours through Europe and the USA: Playing marimba, the thumb piano kalimba and drums as his principal instruments, he accompanies songs from the traditions of his country’s various peoples. These songs express the feeling of life of the people in southern Africa who exist between traditional life, cultural uprooting and hope for a better future. In his own songs, Zanji addresses the current burning problems facing Africa, such as the omnipresent catastrophe of AIDS. Brian Zanji sings in his mother tongue Nyanja, in Luchazi, Tumbuka,Bemba and English. On the present CD, he presents the broad range of his artistic creation. The instruments: MARIMBA (xylophone), KALIMBA (thumb piano), NGOMA(traditional drum), NGOMA MPUITA (friction drum) and lots of vocals.