Energy Maburutse
Instrument(s): Marimba
Band(s): Liyana
Genre(s): International
Notable Achievements: In 2006, the group won the Crossroads Africa Inter-regional Music Festival in Mozambique, and went on to tour Sweden, The Netherlands and Belgium. Liyana began its first-ever American tour in early 2009 and is now the subject of a documentary, iTemba (My Hope), directed by Roger Ross Williams.
Energy Maburutse is first marimba player and backup vocalist for
Liyana, an ensemble of talented young Zimbabweans who write and perform
their own 'Afro-fusion' music, despite the fact that each member was
born with impaired physical abilities. Within the group, Energy
maintains his status as the band’s jokester, even as he battles
osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone syndrome) and is permanently in a
wheelchair but can do most things for himself if lifted in and out of
his wheelchair.
These self-taught musicians met during school
at King George VI, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Liyana, which means "it is
raining" in the Ndebele language, uses music to express various
subjects and musical styles, including gospel, reggae and traditional
Shona music. In addition to the marimba, the band features African
drums, shakers, keyboard, piano and lyrics in five different languages.
