Mokoomba

Mokoomba is a six-piece band originally from the Chinotimba township in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

The group was founded in 2008 and gained substantial experience under the tutelage of local bandleader, the late Alfred Mijimba. Mokoomba comprises Muzaza, Ndaba Coster Moyo (drums), Trustworth Samende (lead guitar), Donald Moyo (keys) Miti Mugande (percussion) and Abundance Mutori (bass guitar). All the members hail from a variety of different ethnic groups represented in this border town, including the Luvale, Nyanja, and Tonga people.

Mokoomba fuses the traditional sounds of Zimbabwe with soukous, funk, reggae, rock and Afrobeat. It has released three albums to date: 'Kweseka' (2009), 'Rising Tide' (2012) and 'Luyando' (2017).

The group’s success was in 2008 after winning the Music Crossroads Inter-Regional Festival Competition in Malawi. Their big break was in 2012 when they released the ‘Rising Tide’ album which saw them tour over 40 countries worldwide until 2014, including performances at Denmark’sRoskilde Festival, the UK’s WOMAD festival, Belgium’s Couleur Cafe´ festival, Sziget festival in Hungary and Morocco’s Gnawa Festival.

The band has played with such icons as Hugh Masekela and Baba Maal at Zimbabwe’s annual Harare International Festival of the Arts. Mokoomba was the subject of a documentary called ‘Mokoomba: From One River Bank to Another’, a film that narrates the group’s story in the context of the relationship between culture and economic development in the global south.