Bawren Tavaziva - Musician
After Bawren's initial forays into making music on his brothers guitar made from a tin can and fishing wire, he began to venture into singing, his first public appearances being as a singer rather than as a dancer.
After appearing on television in the talent contest StarBright with his brother Von, for which they performed their own composition, Bawren was spotted by Biza of Biza's Combination, a popular band that played in the beer halls of Harare and surrounding districts. Bawren was asked to perform with this group as a singer. This proved to be a hard experience for him as he was in his early teens, the hours were hard, and the atmosphere in the beer halls often rowdy. He seldom arrived home before 4 in the morning and it wasn't easy to rise at 6 for school the next day. Bawren will always be grateful to his mother for allowing him to gain this experience as it toughened him for the challenges Neville Campbell was to set him during his apprenticeship with Tumbuka.
Bawren continued writing his own songs after leaving the band. His first recording was for the Leeds' City Council's top 12 bands compilation in 2000. While in Leeds he also worked with Paul Cantillon and together they wrote 'Been B4'. His compositions include early reggae songs, songs of protest and most recently a reggae African mix. As with his dance compositions his songs speak of life in contemporary Africa, of the strong traditional influences he experienced during his childhood and also of the challenges of moving away from home.
Early on in his choreographic career Bawren was frustrated by the difficulties in finding music that echoed his artistic expression. He began to develop the skills he had learnt from writing songs in order to create music for dance. Holla Out was the first work for which he used his own composition. Since then he has composed music for Gule Dance, Tsika and Umdlalo kaSisi and has had compositions commissioned for both Phoenix Dance and Union Dance Companies.
Bawren in his music and through his choreographic works welcomes you into his vision of modern Africa.
To date Bawren has produced 2 CDs:
Disco Africa