Tinashe Chidanyika

Tinashe Chidanyika is a versatile musician experienced as teacher, academic researcher, author, instrument builder and music archivist. After graduating in musicology at UCT he became junior research fellow at UCT’s Aids and Society Research Unit, where his research focused on the interface between music and HIV/Aids awareness in Southern Africa. He is founder and director of the Cape Mbira Project, a community forum for traditional African music cultures within a cosmopolitan society, which facilitates performances, education, as well as the construction of traditional African instruments. The Cape Mbira Project has collaborated amongst others with the Department of Social Development in awareness campaigns, regarding drugs and HIV/Aids.

Tinashe is a proficient performer on many African percussion instruments, Steel Drums, Marimba and especially the Mbira, with which he grew up in his native Zimbabwe. He currently teaches at the Chris Hani Arts & Culture Focus School in Khayilitsha.