Founded in 1979 by Mzikantu Zungula ôDizuö Plaatjies, the son of a traditional herbalist and healer, the core group of Amampondo consisted of seven young boys from the same neighborhood in Langa Township, outside Cape Town in South Africa. Twenty years later, Plaatjies, Mzwandile Qotoyi, Mandla Lande, Simpiwe Matole, Blackie Mbizela, Michael Ludonga and Xola Miambo are still bound by the same dedication to African music and culture.
During the turbulent early æ80s, the group went from being mere Cape buskers and cultural activists to being an internationally acclaimed percussion ensemble. Not only are they accomplished musicians but also educators. From October to the middle of November 1998, the 15-member group toured extensively throughout Sweden, Norway and Finland, performing shows and educational workshops at festivals, clubs and schools. In all, the group completed sixteen full-day workshops, two short workshops and sixteen concerts in 36 days.
Starting in the south of Sweden, the tour began with the group performing a series of workshops at the university music schools in Maim, Stockholm, Orebro and Gothenburg, with audiences of students majoring in jazz and rhythmic studies. They continued on to Oslo, Norway, where they were based for a week, giving full-day workshops at a number of secondary schools with a particular focus on the arts: music, dance and drama. The Norwegian tour segment was crowned by a sold-out performance in Oslo, as part of the ôWorld in the Nordic Countriesö music festival. They also performed to a full house at the Savoy Theatre in Helsinki, gave a full-day workshop at the Sibelius Institute, and ended the tour with two shows at the House of Culture in Stockholm, where they had last performed in 1988.
7/12/01: Amampondo
