SONGSTRESS and mbira musician Hope Masike has marked the beginning of the month of September with the announcement of a nationwide book tour, Standard Style has learnt:
The tour begins today with a book tour launch event at Pikicha Gallery, at Helensvale Shopping Centre in Harare.
Her tour shall be a celebration of the three poetry books she has published so far which are ‘Ask Me Again’, ‘Dzevabvazera’ and her latest offering ‘Die with me’.
During the tour, the musician cum-author will bring her poetry readings, book signings and of course, her signature mbira music to several provinces of the country including Bulawayo, Manicaland, Harare, Midlands.
According to a press release, the tour launch also serves as celebrations of Masike’s birthday.
“This launch event will be in collaboration with a platform called Dedication, the art and culture venue called Emagumeni that houses Pikicha Gallery and Hope Masike’s official Harare and Victoria Falls distributor called House of Books Zim,” reads the statement.
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“Much as the launch event shall include her music and her poetry, it shall also include a pleasant birthday surprise for her fans in the form of her first ever do exhibition comprising paintings from her body works themed ‘Mbira Yangu’.
“This year I am going the whole nine yards: the usual mbira music, my poetry and for the first time, my visual art work too. I have been working on these paintings for years now. They are themed ‘Mbira Yangu’, my visual interpretation of my heritage.”
Hope’s Book Tour launch will start at 4pm at Pikicha Gallery. As the tour proceeds to other cities, her art exhibition will be running at Pikicha Gallery up to October 10.
In Manicaland, Hope Masike is billed to visit some of Mutare’s renowned tertiary academic institutions on September 15.
The next leg of the tour will be at Heaven Lodge in Chimanimani, where Masike will perform her poems and music in collaboration with Mbiravolution and Chimanimani based mbira virtuoso Hector Mungani on September 16.
She finishes off that weekend performing for revellers in Vumba at popular joint Tony’s Cakes on Sunday September 17. The tour will then proceed to Midlands where Masike is expected to visit Midlands State University on September 27 to give a talk to students in the humanities department.
The following day, September 28, she will give a public performance at Gweru Memorial Library in collaboration with Own your words, Gweru’s top book club.
The last leg of the tour shall be Bulawayo province, where Masike will perform for book lovers and music lovers alike at Alliance Francaise de Bulawayo in the afternoon of September 30.
The book tour closing event will be in partnership with the vibrant Bulawayo Book Club and Masike’s official book distributor in Bulawayo, The Orange Elephant.
Masike said she is excited to be able to celebrate the reading and writing culture with different audiences from different parts of Zimbabwe.
“Because of this, I am looking forward to traveling to new places, meeting new faces, seeing more of beautiful Zimbabwe and celebrating my books and African literature at large with both book lovers, poetry lovers and mbira music lovers,” she said.