Wanda's Picks

Mandaza Augustine Kandemwe, was born a Svikiro (in Shona, His native tongue) - a carrier of many earth and water spirits. As a vessel of the Spirits, Mandaza receives visions and dreams, makes offerings, performs healing rituals, and serves as messenger for the Ancient Ones. He lives in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and travels internationally as a Peacemaker. He will be at the Shaman Conference in San Mateo Saturday-Monday, Sept. 4-6; http://shamanismconference.org/ Ernie Silva, performance artist presents his solo show, "Heavy Like the Weight of a Flame," at La Pena Cutural Center, 3105 Shattuck Avenue, in Berkeley, 8 PM, Sept. 9-10, 2010. Echoes of Shakespeare, Hendrix and Kerouac charge solo artist-comedian-guitarist R. Ernie Silva's true-life tale about his odyssey across the great American outback. Heavy Like the Weight of a Flame follows Silva's haunting, touching and often humorous journey across the country. Visit www.lapena.org Featured artists this morning are: Radio Guantanamo(Guantanamo Blues Project Vol. 1) 2006, "Yemayá" - Dewey Redman, Public Domain and "New Orleans Under Waters" (Nueva Orleáns Bajo Agua) - Dewey Redman, Breit. We also play music from Stella Chiweshe's Talking Mbira, Music of Liberation. I put her CD when I was driving Mandaza back to Elenna's home after the lovely pre-Maafa event and he was singing along and telling me about Ms. Stella who met him when he was last in Europe. She lives in Germany with her husband. "She is internationally known for her singing and playing of the mbira dzavadzimu, a traditional instrument of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. She is one of the few female players of the instrument, which she learned to play from 1966 to 1969 when even fewer females played the instrument" (http://www.soundunwound.com).