Tshikona dance entertaining the audience during the event
On 01 December 2017, at the University of Venda Auditorium, the Connecting Culture and Childhood Project hosted the singing competition known as Nambi Ya Dzinambi/From Archive to Artist. The artists used one of the old songs from the archives in a new form such as hip hop, RnB, VenRap and traditional.
The project is a partnership between the University of Venda (Univen), Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and York University. The research collaboration is being led by York University’s Associate Professor Dr Andrea Emberly, Univen Senior Lecturer Dr Elelwani Ramaite-Mafadza, and Dr Mudzunga Davhula.
The project aims to bring heritage recordings of traditional Vhavenda music back to the original communities and owners. The project also aims at engagiong children and young people in listening to and learning traditional Vhavenda songs that were recorded long time ago.
You must be proud of your culture- Dr Davhula
Dr Davhula said they are very proud of their culture and also encouraged the ethnomusicologists to be proud of their cultural music. Traditional dances such as Tshikona, Domba, Zwidade and Malende were performed.
The judges were Mr Jimmy Netshilulu, Mr Mbulaheni Nelson Milubi, Dr Mudzunga Davhula and Vho-Mme Azwinndini Elisa Rannzwa. The judges encouraged the performers to have confidence when performing and to learn Zwidade. The performers were advised to wear traditional attires when performing.
Queuing: Winners photographed during the competition
The winners in the instruments category were Willard Mufamadi who was crowned number one (1) and Richard Mamatsharaga was crowned number two (2). Mercy Madzivhandila was number one (1) and Sir Mclecker crowned number two (2) in the solo artist category. Mukwevho Tshigombela and Domba laha Muraga championed the traditional dance category respectively.
Mercy Madzivhandila was delighted for being one of the winners of the competition
One of the winners, Mercy Madzivhandila, said she knew that she was going to win. “I’m very happy to be number one. I worked very hard prior to this competition. The competition motivated me a lot and I’m going to produce a traditional music album,” said Madzivhandila.
The winners walked away with R2 000, whereas the runner-up performers walked away with R1 000 from each category.
Issued by:
Department of Communications & Marketing
University of Venda
Tel: (015) 962 8525
Date: 24 December 2017
