First performed by Ishirini, cond. Jeremy Rouse, 3 April 2009, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
UK premiere Ishirini, cond. Jeremy Rouse, 20 September 2009, Queens' College Chapel, Cambridge
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Moyo Wangu is an arrangement of a traditional Tanzanian melody composed specially for the Cambridge-based choir Ishirini's tour of Tanzania in the Easter of 2009. The work was given its premiere on a sweltering day in a Lutheran church in Dar Es Salaam. The reception from the excitable audience was quite unlike anything in Europe: a deafening cacophony of ululating, shouting, cheering and clapping that started even as the piece was reaching its conclusion. Essentially a set of variations rounded off with a climactic coda, Moyo Wangu starts simply and gradually builds in textural complexity throughout.