ZIMBE! COME SING THE SONGS OF AFRICA!

Zimbe! Come sing the songs of Africa! is the 40-minute choral fusion of African song and jazz for SATB chorus, children’s choir and jazz quintet which established composer Alexander L’Estrange's name worldwide and spawned a hugely successful series of large-scale works for the same forces. The addition of the children’s choir provides an opportunity for adult or secondary school SATB choirs to team up with local primary school or youth choirs, bringing communities together through singing, something for which L'Estrange has long been a passionate advocate.

The work opens and closes with an attention-grabbing Njooni Zimbe*! Nyimbo za Africa! imploring us to "Come, sing the Songs of Africa!"; by the time you've heard the vibrant sequence of twelve songs, which includes playground, wedding, funeral, drinking, protest, worship songs and lullabies, you will want to do just that. Zimbe! is the ideal piece for choirs who have enjoyed performing L'Estrange's Songs of a Rainbow Nation, works by Karl Jenkins or David Fanshawe's African Sanctus. (* "Zimbe" is the anglicised version of the Swahili word "Ziimbe")