Mozambican artists and socio-cultural activists Moreira Chonguiça (saxophonist) and Paulina Chiziane (writer) are in the United States, where they will take part in various programmes celebrating Mozambican literature and music.
Called Living, the programme will have its epicentre on 28 February at Georgetown University’s main campus. The organisers have set up a link (https://www.georgetown.edu/event/living-mozambique/) to view the event, which will take place between 12.30 and 14.30.
Asked about his participation in the event, Moreira Chonguiça said: “It’s always an honour to be able to talk about our country in other parts of the world. For a while we were consuming what belonged to others. However, we have our tourism, our literature, our music, gastronomy and other strengths and potential as a country. I think it’s these synergies that show how much Mozambique has to offer the world.”
Moreira Chonguiça is a Mozambican saxophonist, jazz musician, producer, composer and cultural influencer. Chonguiça began his musical career in Maputo, Mozambique, where he started studying at the National School of Music (ENM).
After his studies in Maputo, he continued his studies at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. With his global audience, Chonguiça is proud to share his African sound with the world at large.
His most recent album, Sounds of Peace, released in November 2022, draws on Western and African influences, while representing Mozambique’s unique cultural heritage through indigenous musical themes and songs sung in local languages, including Makhuwa, Makonde and Changana.
Chonguiça has twice been nominated for Best African Album at the African Global Music Awards and won an award of the same name at the Just Plain Folks Music Awards for his 2013 MP Reloaded.
Paulina Chiziane is a member of the Chope do Sul group from Mozambique. Born in Mozambique’s Gaza province in 1955, Chiziane lived through both Mozambique’s colonial war of independence and its subsequent civil war, a theme that informs much of her writing.
In addition, the rights and treatment of women in Mozambican society are frequently addressed in her work. When she published her first work, Balada de Amor ao Vento, in 1990, she became the first woman to publish a book in independent Mozambique.
In 2021, Chiziane became the first African woman to win the prestigious Camões prize, the highest honour for Portuguese-speaking writers. An English translation of O Alegre Canto da Perdiz will be released later this year.
Rádio Moçambique
