Media & Booker Assets

Sekuru Gore & Mazana Movement is a Zimbabwean traditional acoustic ensemble under the artistic direction of elder Evason Gore (Sekuru Gore). Grounded in the deep, polyrhythmic traditions of the Shona people, the group represents both a preservation of ancestral heritage and a living, contemporary practice of acoustic interlocking.

At the core of the ensemble's identity is a strict technical constraint: the absolute exclusivity of traditional acoustic instruments. In an era where worldbeat and African fusion groups rely heavily on electric guitars, brass sections, and digital drum synthesis, Mazana Movement enforces a permanent creative boundaries contract: "No amplified strings. No synthesis. Every sound on this page is wood, gourd, hide, reed, and forged steel."

The ensemble’s melodic engine is the *mbira dzavadzimu*, played in pairs that construct interlocking lines—the leading *kushaura* part and the responding *kutsinhira* part. This interlocking logic creates an "inherent melody," a secondary acoustic line that belongs to neither player but emerges dynamically in the ear of the listener. This high-frequency metal chime is grounded by the deep, physical thump of *ngoma* drums (carved from wild teak logs and topped with cowhide) and the driving triplet shuffles of *hosho* shakers (dried squash gourds filled with wild *hota* seeds).

Historically, the Mazana Movement name carries deep roots in Zimbabwe’s post-independence musical landscape of the 1970s and 1980s, which saw artists like Chinx Chingaira and Stance Mpofu weave traditional mbira patterns into modern pop styles. Sekuru Gore’s contemporary reconstitution of the group returns the focus to the rural roots of the music. Their 2025 live recording, Mbira Machokoto ne Ngoma Dzehushiri, captured in the open-air environment of Rushinga, stands as a testament to this raw, non-commercialized ceremonial sound.

The ensemble is available worldwide for international folk and world music festivals, academic workshops and university residencies focusing on ethnomusicology, and traditional Shona ceremonial duties.