2006 Press Releases

The U.S. Embassy in Harare is pleased to announce the visit to Zimbabwe by Atlanta-based hip-hop music group AFAR. AFAR will tour Zimbabwe between 5th December and December 8th 2006.

The visit is sponsored by the U.S. Embassy through the Public Affairs Section (PAS) and is meant to promote cultural understanding between the two countries.

The group will perform live shows in Harare and Bulawayo. In addition, and true to the group’s tradition of promoting unity and education, AFAR will conduct workshops with young urban grooves artists in Harare and Bulawayo. The workshops will give Zimbabwean artists a chance to share ideas about hip hop music, while learning about hip hop in the United States.

“We are very excited about AFAR’s visit to Zimbabwe”, says Mark Weinberg, Assistant Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy. “AFAR’s tour will showcase an important aspect of American culture, while hopefully inspiring Zimbabwean youth interested in music. Their tour is a great opportunity to build links between American and Zimbabwean hip hop artists and lovers.” 

Weinberg encouraged Zimbabwean youth who feel they will benefit from the workshops to contact the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section in Harare on 758800-1 as there are still limited places available for more artists to participate in the workshops. 

AFAR is a five piece band including members with rock, jazz, gospel, and R&B backgrounds. Four members of the band will participate in the tour to Zimbabwe.

Hip hop music in Zimbabwe is increasingly becoming popular with performers such as Zimbabwe Legit (who were one of the first African rap groups to sign a deal and release an album in the United States). Other Zimbabwean performers include the crew Kataklizim, Mizchif and Kingpinn.

Hip hop music, also referred to as rap or rap music, is a style of popular music which developed in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. It consists of two main components: rapping (MCing) and DJing (audio mixing and scratching).

Together with hip hop dance (notably break dancing) and urban inspired art, hip hop music forms the basis for hip hop, a cultural movement that was initiated by inner-city youth, mostly African Americans, in New York City, in the 1970s ###