Mutariko Arts and Culture Project

Godfrey Dupwa smiles broadly when he explains that audiences often get carried away by the project’s pulsating shows. “We take you down Memory Lane with our music but our performances are very contemporary,” says Godfrey. “We get your feet tapping, we keep you on the edge of your seat until, before you realise it, we’ve come to the end of the performance.”

Based in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, Mutariko is a company dedicated to preserving and performing traditional African music, using (and even manufacturing) traditional African instruments. Its performances are boisterous and then poignant, then boisterous again, but always compelling, the dancers wearing traditional Swazi dress a lively whirl of colour.

Members of the project (there are some 20 of them) are mostly young adults drawn from various parts of Nelspruit but, Godfrey points out, its youngest member is just 10 years old and its oldest 39. The project has an extensive outreach programme which takes the artists’ love of traditional music and dance to schools across Mpumalanga.

Artists gather every day at 8am to practise until 4pm. The project’s offices and dance studio are in a busy building in Anderson Street, Nelspruit. (Mutariko shares the second floor with a number of evangelical Christian organisations and even a business that manufactures duvets.)

Godfrey is the founder and the creative inspiration behind Mutariko (the name is Shona which means a bridge; as he explains it, the organisation’s mission is to use music to build bridges between people and between the ancient and the modern).

He studied teaching, particularly traditional African music and, in 2006, began lecturing at the Ray Phiri Arts Institute in Nelspruit, where his responsibilities included teaching African Music Studies theory of music, voice training and choir conducting. At Ray Phiri, Godfrey and a few friends started a group which, before they knew it, had developed into something much more; which became Mutariko. Although he has spent most of his career in teaching, the 32-year-old Godfrey is anything but an ivory-tower academic. Instruments he is proficient on include but are not limited to the following: marimba, mbira, amapondo, drums, Isitolotolo, uhadi and nyanga pen-pipes.

The 20 artists of Mutariko are mostly Swazi but the music, instruments and dance performed by the project span southern Africa. The group performs regularly at venues such as the Civic Theatre in Nelspruit, Grahamstown National Arts Festival, Innibos Arts Festival and the Barnyard Theatre in nearby White River. Often they’re hired to perform welcomes and during breaks at conferences hosted by business and government. The Mutariko sound has a solid following in Mpumalanga but, says Godfrey, the project is increasingly being booked to perform for groups of tourists. “With the help of TEP we’re getting the message out there: that we’ve got a great sound and a fantastic experience; that we can introduce tourists to the music of southern Africa while giving them a really fun time.”

Mutariko is able to tailor programmes to suit particular tour groups. Whatever the nationality of the tourists, the response is always the same: “People always want more and more. They get a bit carried away and want to be part of the group,” grins Godfrey. “It often happens that we find the stage is full of members of the audience. That’s a great recommendation, when people want to be part of the show, but sometimes we have to say, ‘Please people, can you leave the stage now?’ so that we can finish the performance.

Previously sponsored by the Department of Arts and Culture and the National Arts Council, Mutariko today supports itself purely by performing. According to Godfrey, TEP’s assistance includes more than marketing. “They’ve helped us with business development, human resources and financial skills; enabling us to run the project professionally. Instead of it being a one-man show where one person has all the knowledge, we’re now developing a proper administrative team.”

Godfrey’s vision for Mutariko includes one day opening an institute devoted to ethnographic musicology and performing arts, a research hub that will keep alive the treasure trove that is African music. Until then, this Hidden Treasure is ready and willing to share its jewels with all-comers.