Announcing Windhund Zimbabwe tour

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Created: Thursday, 27 June 2002 00:00
In September 2002, Otto Lechner, Melissa Coleman, João de Bruçó and Karl Ritter, members of the Austrian group Windhund, will tour Zimbabwe, a country ravaged by AIDS, drought, starvation and political polarisation. Within this trouble-stricken scenario, the Zimbabwe Summer Jazz Festival on 14 September in the Harare Gardens will raise a beacon of hope and mutual understanding through its contribution to the struggle against HIV and AIDS. The music and friendship from Europe are more than welcome in these difficult times.

Siachilaba - Binga - Bulawayo - Harare

On its journey to the capital Harare, Windhund will visit the Tonga people, who live along the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, and the group Simonga, with whom Otto Lechner performed in August 1997 in Vienna. From this cultural exchange, which took place in 1997 and was initiated by KUNZWANA Trust and the Austria Zimbabwe Friendship Association (AZFA), the Tonga.Online Project has emerged and seen the establishment of the first information technology centre in the Tonga area at Binga High School.

While Windhund will be touring the Binga area and visiting the home of Simonga at Siachilaba, the Tonga.Online Project will be presented at the international Ars Electronica Festival in Linz. The website, www.mulonga.net , an interactive communication link, will continue to provide a platform reflecting the digital divide within the global village. The theme chosen for the Ars Electronica Festival this year is Art as the Scene of Global Conflict.

 Windhund represents three different continents: Europe, Latin America and Australia, and its members are well known for their musical globe-trotting. They move around in many world areas of music, never restricting themselves to any cliché. The combination of high professional standards of music making, artistic maturity and a common understanding of musical performance spark the creation of pieces which could not have been better written if they had been pre-composed. www.windhundrecords.com
This encounter with the fourth continent brings Windhund in touch with the cultural diversity of Southern Africa, with great artists like Oliver Mutukudzi and Jimmy Dludlu as well as the Ngoma Buntibe music of the Tonga people. Windhund are looking forward to this challenge with eager anticipation.