Inkanyezi ZeZulu Acapella Ensemble to tour United Kingdom

Inkanyezi Zezulu, an award winning acapella (imbube/isicathamiya) ensemble was established in South Africa in 2010 by a group of eleven South African and Zimbabwean men in Hillbrow, the inner city of Johannesburg. Right now Inkanyezi  Zezulu is arguably one of the biggest acapella groups in South Africa and its main aim is to raise awareness to the dangers of social maladies such as prostitution, drug abuse and alcoholism. Furthermore the group promotes peace, unity, community cohesion and integration particularly after the resurgence of xenophobic attacks in recent years. "Inkanyezi ZeZulu is like family, a home away from home. First and foremost it was the love of arts and culture that made us start this project then later we realised that actually it was therapeutic from the historical political disturbances we went through" said the group member , Mthandazo Zikalala.

Inkanyezi ZeZulu has been invited to tour United Kingdom from August till September 2016. We're challenging all South Africans, Zimbabweans and fellow citizens of the world at large, who believe that we have to take a stand against moral decadence and promote moral values that keep communities together, to come out and support Inkanyezi Zezulu.  In tough times such as in the current economic recession public spending is significantly cut back and corporate investors pull back.  A poignant example of this is a last minute pull back by a large institutional sponsor who had pledged to support Inkanyezi Zezulu for its cultural tour. What this points to is the fact that we ought to take charge of our cultural destiny by playing an active patriotic role in promoting our cultural productions. No hero can rise from obscurity to fame without being acknowledged by fellow compatriots. Will you reach out today make your contribution to the support of South African/Zimbabwean cultural export? "We really want to grab this opportunity that might help us develop Inkanyezi ZeZulu into a self sustainable project so we're appealing to well wishers to help us achieve our aim" said Gift Mahamba, one of the group's leaders.

To make a donation towards props, costumes, rehearsals and other travelling expenses for Inkanyezi ZeZulu Acapella please visit our fundraising page and simply Click to Donate:  https://www.gofundme.com/inkanyezizezulu.

Three decades ago, South Africa made headlines from the export of the Ubuntu philosophy to the world. Our nation silenced prospects of post- independence bloodshed recriminations and humbled the world to embody this truly humane spirit. It may have been a new philosophy to the world but to us as a people it had been deeply entrenched in our cultural values throughout the ages. The remarkable thing though is that the birth of our nation would be marked by a massive export to the world of our cultural values as a nation as if to suggest it was incumbent upon us to do so. Culture is the heart of a nation. It defines who we are as a people. As the globe becomes more economically integrated its easy for communities to morph into other cultures and lose their own moral campus. We should never allow that to happen for South Africa because at our birthday as a nation it was clear that we owe it to ourselves and to the world to keep our cultural torch alight.

There has been tremendous progress in the arts sector which has grown fully fledged industries of music, film, publishing, theatre and other cultural media. This has been to a greater extent due to government policies and programs that promote culture. Corporate sponsorship and donor funding has made a significant contribution to the growth of the sector too. We however need to do more to promote export of cultural art. We must prop up our artists so that they can reach out to audiences beyond our borders to reaffirm our values and defend our heritage. This will not only be of economic value to the nation but shall also help safeguard our values against the challenge of competing foreign cultures. For example, productions and Arts companies like Black Mambazo, Sarafina, Ipi intombi, Umoja etc have well represented our nation abroad. If this is to continue happening, pivotal art champions must emerge that take our art to the world showcasing the talent in our cultural heroes. In winemaking the industry makes use of wine connoisseurs that promote produce in diverse markets. In art the industry is in urgent need of mavens that promote our cultural productions.

Visit www.inkanyezizezulu.com or contact Peter Mutanda on +44 7533303139 Gift Nqobile Mahamba +27 769947558 you can also email us on inkanyeziontour@gmail.com