Louis Mhlanga
Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
CELEBRATED South Africa-based guitarist and vocalist Louis Mhlanga will tomorrow headline the Francophone Festival world music night at Horizon Night Club in Bulawayo.
The Zimbabwe-born guitar maestro will share the stage with his Malagasy counterpart, Regis Gizavo, who began playing the accordion at the age of six.
The show starts at 7.30PM.
Mhlanga and Gizavo will team up for the first time since 2002 where they joined percussionist David Mirandon to collaborate on an album, Stories, which won the prestigious Spin the Globe award in 2006.
The Bulawayo Francophone performance is part of the duo’s 11-day tour of Southern Africa dubbed “Duet Takalo”.
The tour, being supported by Alliance Française, began in Cape Town on March 4 and ends on March 21. They will visit Botswana, Zambia, South Africa and Lesotho.
Alliance Francaise communications coordinator, Prisca Cerneaux, said the duo’s performance is in line with the premise of the festival of diversity and cultural dialogue.
“Working together, they focus on musical influences and artistic experiences that nourished them over the last decade,” Cerneaux said.
Mhlanga began his career in Harare in the 1970s and later got the opportunity to work with music superstar Oliver Mtukudzi and the now defunct Ilanga. After a glorious stint in his homeland, the award-winning guitarist and producer headed to South Africa where he worked with the late Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, Mlungisi Gegana and the Kalahari Surfers among others.
His albums include Musik Ye Afrika, Mukai, Live at the Bassline with Vusi Mahlasela, Shamwari, Stories and World Traveller.