The Zawose Queens

Returning to Ellen's after taking the House of KOKO by storm last year is the majestic Zawose Queens. There is spirit and fire in the music, there's the vibrations of the ancestors, coming through on traditional instruments - soaring chizeze fiddle, buzzing illimba thumb piano, ngoma drums that chatter and thunder - and voices that go deep, high and out there. There's the connection to nature, to ceremony and ritual, in their dance-inspired fusion, their blend of the organic, harmonic and modern-day electronic. There are lyrics that tell, in their native kigogo, of the passion for music, the wonders of life. Of pride in environment, in tradition. In their East African roots.

Pendo and Leah Zawose showcase the fluid polyrhythms and rapturous polyphonic singing of the Gogo (aka Wagogo) people of the arid, hilly Dodoma region of central Tanzania.