Mozambique: Banda Kakana serenades women at CFFM tonight
Mozambique: A legend takes the stage tonight @Franco
6:09 CAT | 10 Dec 2021
File photo: Wazimbo on Facebook
The Franco-Mozambican Cultural Centre closes its 2021 programme today, Friday, December 10th, with the concert by Mozambican musical legend Wazimbo, at 6:30 p.m..
Packed with well-known songs, the set recapitulates the artist’s career, from its beginnings to the present.
About Wazimbo
Humberto Carlos Benfica, known as Wazimbo, is one of the greatest voices in Mozambique and one of the most famous singers in the Marrabenta style.
Born on November 11, 1948 in Mozambique’s Chibuto district, Gaza province, he moved to the capital, then known as Lourenço Marques, where he grew up in the Mafalala neighbourhood.
Wazimbo started singing in 1964 with the Mozambican group ‘Silverstars’ and continued as a singer with the Geiziers, performing a mix of international pop music with a Brazilian touch in the Mozambican capital, then famous mainly as a gambling destination for visiting South Africans.
In 1972, Wazimbo signed his first professional contract as a singer and moved to Angola for two years. In 1974, he returned to Mozambique and actively participated in the African Music Association.
After independence, Wazimbo worked with the renowned national ‘Radio Moçambique’ band. He became the lead singer of the Orquestra Marrabenta Star de Moçambique in 1979, while continuing to work with members of the Radio Moçambique band.
Led by its principal vocalist, Orquestra Marrabenta Star de Moçambique developed a full marrabenta style, characterised by electric guitars, powerful horn lines and soulful vocals.
After becoming extremely popular in Mozambique, Orquestra Marrabenta Star de Moçambique travelled to Europe and released two CDs with the German label “Piranha Records”. Both presented a mix of various dance styles.
In the 90s, after the return of peace in Mozambique, they returned home but did not record again before disbanding in 1995.
Trademark song and international success
One of Wazimbo’s greatest hits is the ballad Nwahulwana (‘Night Bird’), released in 1988. The song was featured in a Microsoft commercial in California, and in 2001 appeared on the soundtrack of the film ‘The Pledge’, directed by Sean Penn and starring Jack Nicholson.
In the song, Wazimbo expresses sadness about the lifestyle of a wonderful young woman whom he refers to as “sister – Maria”, who wastes her life on a different man every night.
The song includes the lyric: “You are a night bird, moving after dark from bar to bar.”
(Lyrics Credits: Wazimbo & Orchestra Marrabenta Star De Moçambique.
Source: Franco Moçambicano / Wazimbo's bio adapted from Ivanildo Soares text in Biography Music
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