Situated
in Highfield, a high density suburb in the capital city of Zimbabwe,
where social and economical problems are a hindrance to the development
of art and culture, and where resources are scarce, Pamuzinda was established in 1990, after having realized the absence of art and the ignorance of culture among the youth in Zimbabwe.
The group was officially launched at a St Mary's New Highfield Catholic Church with the blessing of the Catholic Youth Association. The group faced a lot of criticism from the day of formation. Elderly people thought it is against church doctrine, while some youth said: "How can you mix African culture and christianity". Others believed, living in modern times, they can not see themselves in traditional African dressing. The group was expelled from operating under catholic premises. Pamuzinda is now holding its practice at Zimbabwe Hall Social Centre.
Pamuzinda is now a household name in terms of it's energetic traditional dances and it's music which includes the most respected and most sacred instrument which is mbira(thumb piano) an additional of marimba(balafon), shakers, congas and accostic guitar. With the experience the group have gunnered through the years performing in many festivals and successful tours in most parts of Zimbabwe, regionally and internationally have created and transformed the group to become what it is today.
The first breakthrough of the group to international fray came in 1994 when the group was invited to take part at the Maitisong Musical Festival which was held in Francistown in Botswana and from there we never looked back. The music we play is a mixture of styles and fusion of music from different ethnic groups in zimbabwe. The music is known as "musambo wepasi" meaning ancient music / music for the earth. The group also reflects a lot of Zimbabwean culture through quite a number of dances drawn from mosts parts of Zimbabwe provinces and some from neighbouring/regional countries which truelly illustrate the group's combined experience of being together for fifteen years.
Pamuzinda recorded three albums to date. The first one: "Rythmes from the Mountains of Africa" was done in Belgium in 1998. "Padare" was recorded in London in 2000, some of the songs where done in Zimbabwe. The latest one, "Padare2" was recorded in Zimbabwe in 2004 under the label Z.M.C, one of the leading recording companies in Zimbabwe. Through all the years in the field of arts Pamuzinda have many awards behind them and the group was nominated as one of the best music and dance groups to ermerge in Zimbabwe. That was in the year 2002 at the Zimbabwe National Merit Awards.
Pamuzinda had successfully toured and performed per exellence in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania, Belgium, Luxemburg, Holland, Japan, Scotland, United Kingdom, the U.S.A. and Germany.