On October 17 at 17:00, Mozambican percussionist, composer, music producer, instrument maker, and cultural scholar Matchume Zango will host a lecture titled Mozambique Community Sounds and Social Interaction.

Communities play an important role in promoting appreciation of African cultural traditions – their aesthetics, philosophies and worldviews. Across Mozambique, various peoples, in order to survive, have used a variety of practices – especially livestock raising, fishing, agriculture, spirituality, music, and dance – as ways of responding to their environment and sustaining their ways of life. Climate change influence the timing of rituals or even leave their mark on each village. Through their songs and dances, they tell us what is happening to our planet.

In his lecture, Matchume Zango will explore the making of his project ’Native Practices of Mozambique’, which he will present on the Vilnius Jazz stage on October 16. The project involves research and audiovisual documentation of current cultural practices of different ethnicities from the three regions of Mozambique (north, center and south).

These traditional communities have a rich and diverse heritage of music, dance and rituals, mainly connected to their work and spiritual activities. The project seeks to understand, beyond strategies, how these climate-related changes influence the times of rituals or even how these situations leave cultural and artistic marks in each territory. What strategies do these communities use to continue their practices? And what is the impact of climate change on their ways of life?

During the lecture, Matchume will also introduce the timbila, a traditional African xylophone and one of the defining instruments of Chopi musical culture.

Matchume Zango completed his music studies at the University of Cape Town, where he later taught. Over the past twenty years, he has performed traditional, experimental and fusion music in countries around the world, while working as a composer, instrument maker and masterclass tutor. He regularly collaborates with international artists, universities, festivals and cultural institutions.