Chamwino Connect

Please keep in mind the educational needs of children and youth in the village of Chamwino, Tanzania, and the desire of older Chamwino villagers to ensure that their young people will maintain Gogo cultural identity. This sustainability of Gogo heritage has been happening through the good graces of donors in support of the annual Cigogo festival every July, as well as visits by Gogo musicians to schools, recording sessions of Gogo storytellers, and arts management training for village musicians. Please see the work of Chamwino Connect, the fund-raising arm of Chamwino Arts Center, and know that your donation will be gratefully received and immediately applied by the Center to the preservation of Tanzania's cultural heritage in music, the arts and education.

Home | Chamwino Connect Chamwino Connect is the 501c3 fundraising organization that supports cultural sustainability in central Tanzania through music, dance, all the arts and education. 

Happy Birthday to Kedmon Mapana! We’re asking for donations to Chamwino Connect, a nonprofit that supports cultural sustainability in Tanzania though music, the arts and education. Click on the link https://www.chamwinoconnect.org to donate. Thank you!

Founder of the Cigogo Festival of Music and Dance, Kedmon Mapana was born and raised in the small Tanzanian village of Chamwino. He learned Gogo traditional music from his father, made his way to university studies in music, earned BA, MA, and PhD degrees in music education and ethnomusicology, and is now Executive Secretary of the National Arts Council of Tanzania. Kedmon founded the Chamwino Arts Center (CAC) as a means of sustaining Gogo music through education and community projects, and it's his vision to see that Tanzania's Gogo traditions are kept alive and well.

A donation here will support the Center and its projects, including the Cigogo Festival of Music scheduled for July 19-21. Please join us in supporting the Festival, CAC, and Kedmon's vision!

Thinking of a journey to East Africa, and the wonderland that is Tanzania? Add to your visits to the Serengeti, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar, this cultural festival: the 15th Annual Cigogo Festival on July 19-20 2024. The people of Chamwino village, central Tanzania, are gathering now in in preparation for the festival, and are composing this year's "mass song", the song that will be sung and danced in the village all through the festival. The festival is unforgettable for its round-the-clock participatory musicking, and is wide open to one and all. See details of the festival at https://www.chamwinoconnect.org. (Also, note that donations to the Chamwino Connect will help defray costs for the meals and transport of musicians and dancers from distant villages to the central village of Chamwino, Tanzania.)

Your gracious donation to Chamwino Connect goes to support the children and their teachers, and contributes to the sustainability of arts and culture in Tanzania. https://www.chamwinoconnect.org
Little girls in yellow dresses, drums in hand, awaiting the call to sing, dance, and play the music of their Wagogo heritage.

Your gracious donation to Chamwino Connect goes to support their efforts, and contributes to the sustainability of arts and culture in Tanzania. https://www.chamwinoconnect.org
Born and raised in the village of Chamwino, Tanzania, Kedmon Mapana, founder of Chamwino Arts Center, and Pendo Ulanga (Mapana), are keepers of Wagogo identity, heritage, and traditions; they view the education of children, and the annual Cigogo festival, as key to cultural preservation.

Your gracious donation to Chamwino Connect goes to support their efforts, and contributes to the sustainability of arts and culture in Tanzania. https://www.chamwinoconnect.org
Nyati, the Wagogo ensemble of Nzali village, central Tanzania, in rehearsal of songs “to be continued” through the generations. As Nyati’s music starts up, those who come only to watch/listen are compelled (and welcomed) to join in.

Your gracious donation to Chamwino Connect goes to support their efforts, and contributes to the sustainability of arts and culture in Tanzania. https://www.chamwinoconnect.org

Wagogo women musicians at the annual Cigogo Festival: Mothers, grandmothers, and aunties who keep in musical shape in order to model and motivate children and youth to hold fast to their Wagogo traditions.

Your gracious donation to Chamwino Connect goes to support the children and their teachers, and contributes to the sustainability of arts and culture in Tanzania. https://www.chamwinoconnect.org
Wagogo children in motion, drumming and dancing in full regalia, led (and “backed”) by their teachers, whose aim is to raise a new generation of musicians in the Wagogo way.

They sing and dance because they must. These Wagogo villagers take time to gather, to co-create music to express the joys and challenges of their lives, and to carry on the cultural practices of generations past. Note: Your gracious donation to Chamwino Connect goes to support the children and their teachers, and contributes to the sustainability of arts and culture in Tanzania. https://www.chamwinoconnect.org

Wagogo children are back in school now, learning the stuff of the national standards in their government schools. On the outside, and with the guidance of their elders, they will also acquire Wagogo cultural knowledge. Note: Your gracious donation to Chamwino Connect goes to support the children and their teachers, and contributes to the sustainability of arts and culture in Tanzania. https://www.chamwinoconnect.org

Nyati, the outstanding ensemble from the small village of Nzali in the Dodoma region of Central Tanzania. Note: Your gracious donation to Chamwino Connect goes to support Nyati and other Wagogo musicians, and contributes to the sustainability of arts and culture in Tanzania. https://www.chamwinoconnect.org