Hear what Banning Eyre, Senior Editor for Afropop.org, has to say about Zivanai Masango.
"Zivanai is a remarkable young musician. He plays guitar, bass, trumpet, drums, and percussion, and sings beautifully. He understands the subtle intricacies of Zimbabwean traditional music, but is also at home in a variety of international music styles. Zivanai’s variety of talents earned him a place in Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited, the most important modern band in Zimbabwe, and one of the great African bands of the past century. But that was only a waystation for Zivanai. Since arriving in New York, he has moved in many directions, from solo artist to guitarist in Chris Berry’s exceptional pop band, Panjea. Finally, a personal note. I play in a band of mostly Americans who play Shona traditional music from Zimbabwe. We have been privileged to work with Zivanai on some gigs, and he is a great guy to know for us, because if just about any one of our musicians can’t make a gig, he can fill in for them. This guy is going places!
Banning Eyre, January 2005
He is living in NYC, teaching, performing and has now entered the Music Technology Program at Mercy College in NYC. He is the Lead Guitarist for the band Panjea.