Zimbabwe: Mathias Julius Promises To Add Zing To HIFA 2011
By Novell Zwange – HARARE – Mathias “Matty” Julius is a dancer, choreographer, composer, musician, and producer with a difference. His mission is to entertain people . He recently released an Album whose video is currently topping charts on ZTV and has won lots of appreciation from viewers across the country. Next week at the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA( A 6 day annual festival now in its 12th year, Mathias Julius and Mokoomba perform at the Coca Cola Day on Saturday 30 April, 11.30am- 12.30pm, Coca-Cola Green. He has promised to burn the house down .
- Mathias “Matty” Julius
HIFA 2011 is on fire, says Mathias, himself a resident of Harare, and a veteran dancer for so many years. In his own birthright Mathias is a multi-talented singer, dancer, choreographer, and composer. His artistic career began in the 1990s, when he joined Zimbabwe’s renowned Tumbuka Dance Company. In addition to his numerous international appearances with Tumbuka, he was featured as a dancer in the music video “Perekedza Mwana,” released by Zimbabwean musical superstar Oliver Mtukudzi.
“I am working all the time, entertainment is what I do. I am in my own way entertaining and cheering up people, singing to them and also dancing with them,” said Mathias.
Mathias is one of the hottest musical acts to appear in Zimbabwe in recent years. His music draws on a variety of influences ranging from traditional and popular Zimbabwean music to reggae, dub, and hiphop, and represents the very best of Zimbabwe’s young, urban music scene.
“Revellers should expect a reggae feel on a big Zimbabwean level, I have big love for Mokoomba, and apparently this will be a big show for us together, me, Mokoomba and my namesake Mathias Muzaza, the highly talented frontman of the roving Mokoomba.”
Mokoomba the young veterans from Victoria Falls are 2008 winners of the Music Crossroads InterRegional Festival and stars of HIFA 2009 and 2010, they offer audiences an electrifying blend of Afro-fusion and tantalising traditional Tonga rhythms. Vibrant and danceable, their music combines Western contemporary instruments with traditional Tonga jemba in a mix that is attracting intense attention at home and abroad. HIFA 2011 sets tone for a big farewell to their tour of Europe
