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You can reach us by using our contact form or send us an e-mail at either of the following addresses
peta.axelsson@telia.com
info@zimbamarimbaband.com
or call us
tel: (+46) (0) 46 128878
cell: (+46) (0) 709 586147
Peta Axelsson
Zimba Marimba Bands great interest in African music, especially the music of Zimbabwe has been rewarded and encouraged by various Swedish cultural funding institutions. This has enabled us to participate in several music education projects. The purpose of these projects has been to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural diversity behind teaching methods, and to investigate the advantages of peer teaching with special reference to the African marimba and other percussion instruments.
For the past ten years, Zimba Marimba Band under the leadership of Peta Axelsson and Anna Forsvall Lundmark has studied Zimbabwean music, marimba, mbira, dance, drumming, hosho, and song, as well as West African dance and drumming. During this development phase Zimba continually focused on developing new teaching methods especially with relation to multicultural music and the aspect of peer teaching. We held hundreds of concerts and workshops and participated in educational projects in Sweden, Europe and Africa.
Peta Axelsson (leader) introduced a Zimbabwean marimba program to Swedish Music Schools in 1997 in which ideas around multicultural teaching methods were developed. This was greatly influenced by the intensive research done by the late Olof Axelsson during his lifetime.
SIDA funding (1999-2002) was granted to Zimba Marimba and Åstorp’s Music School to study methods developed in “A Percussion-Based Approach to African and Western Music Education”, researched by Linda Muller at the Department of Music, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town.
Swedish Federation of Young Musicians (RUM) funded workshops in which Zimba Marimba Band worked to explore methods of peer teaching.
Zimba Marimba Band (self funded) visited Botswana and South Africa (February 2005) and had an exchange with music students at Maru-A-Pula school in Gaborone, Botswana and Durban Boys Preparatory School, South Africa. They gave interactive workshops and concerts, implementing ideas about peer teaching. They also studied marimba with Mr. Alport Mhlanga, one of Southern Africa’s leading marimba composers.
Framtidens Kultur foundation funded a three-phase project called “Exploring the Relevance of Multicultural music education”, August 2005 - December 2006.
August 2005
Zimba led workshops at the Teacher Track Courses, Western Washington University, and also performed at Zimfest in Bellingham Washington
March 2006
Worked with teachers from the south of Sweden to develop skills and techniques for children with disabilities, using marimbas, drums and dance.
August 2006
A memorable visit to Zimbabwe organised and led by Rujeko Dumbutshena from Panjea Foundation, and a trip to Mozambique where we investigated the Chopi timbila players with Mr. Valencio Mbande.
Zimba Marimba Summer Camp 2008
Our 2008 Summer Camp in Varberg, Sweden was a huge success. With the generous support of Nordiskkulturfond, 160 participants of all ages from Sweden, Iceland and Norway spent four wonderful days with African Music specialists. Workshops in marimba, drumming, dance, song and mbira from both Zimbabwe and West Africa were greatly appreciated. Together we demonstrated a new vision of the African culture and its underlying social philosophy: to express harmony and dignity as a way of building community.