Ivo Maia brings ‘JaMozBraz’ to Harare

His performances reflect the rich cultural heritage of Portuguese colonies, combining Afro-grooves with a Brazilian reggae influence, which he describes as JaMozBraz — Jamaican-Mozambican-Brazilian. His voice, an evocative mix of honeyed tones and raw power, accompanied by his guitar, makes for addictive, foot-tapping listening.
Ivo Maia spent his formative years in Maputo, where he started dabbling in music from a very young age, starting out on the bass guitar, and soon discovering that his voice was his strongest asset.
He moved to Brazil to attend university in 1998 and it wasn’t long before he was involved in the Brazilian music scene, collaborating with different artists and bands.  
In 2004, he met with fellow musicians in Espirito Santo, Brazil, during their famous annual Carnival, and the Afro-Brazilian phenomenon Na-palma was born — an electro-percussive sound explosion showcasing rhythms and lyrics from both continents (see www.napalma.com.br).
Ivo has travelled with Napalma as their vocalist ever since, appearing in over 500 shows worldwide, and some of the most prestigious festivals and venues in the world, including The Cape Town Jazz Festival, Awesome Africa, Hopi kopi, Rocking the Daises, Arts Alive, Vortex (SA), Boom Festival (Portugal), Universo Paralelo (Brazil), Festival dos Abrazos (Spain), the Cairo Opera House (Egypt), Blijburg (Holland), Sound‘nArts (Ger-many), Guanabara (London, UK), among many, many others. 
Based in Johannesburg, South Africa for the last two years, he splits his time between touring with Napalma and his solo project. 
Earlier this month he was warmly welcomed back in his home city, Maputo, and for his Zimbabwe performance, Ivo will be backed by the gifted musicians of Zimbabwe’s very own Color Blu — Blessing Muparutsa (drums), Nick Nhare (keys) and Enock Piroro (bass) — highly rated in Zimbabwe, and fully qualified to pick up new rhythms and styles, and guaranteed to acquit themselves well as session artists for Ivo. 
And, as happens with musicians everywhere, a few surprise guest artists will take to the stage to welcome Ivo and enjoy the richness of his JaMozBraz, a colourful music experience.
Ivo comes under the cultural programme of Zimbabwe arts organisation, Pamberi Trust, which has been at the forefront of championing the arts in the country. Pamberi Trust operates The Book Cafe and The Mannenberg at the Fife Avenue Shopping Centre in Harare.