EarthCries / Gloriosa by MA.MOYO X Marysia Osu

MA.MOYO X Marysia Osu is a collaborative music project by a South East London based duo made up of Zimbabwean poet/sound artist, Belinda Zhawi and Polish harpist/producer, Marysia Osuchowska. The project combines beats, electronics, harp, and poetry to create a distinct sound, exploring nature, womanhood and lineage. They have performed at EARTHackney, Southbank Centre, King's Place amongst others and their work has been featured on Boiler Room, BBC, Worldwide FM and other similar platforms. The tracks EarthCries & Gloriosa make the duo’s first official offering after many years of only performing their sounds live. Stay on the lookout for more recorded releases from the duo.

The first track is a cover of a poem by Jamaican dub poet and storyteller, Jean “Binta” Breeze (11/03/1956 – 04/08/2021) entitled 'Earth Cries'. Breeze wrote this poem about the planet’s state of decline in the year 2000. Breeze was widely acknowledged as the first woman to write and perform dub poetry. This legacy is honoured in the production - it offers a dub heavy influence, dictating the pace and delivery of the text.

This song was first made in 2019, and its release on this date is to mark the first anniversary of Jean “Binta” Breeze’s passing; to pay homage to an artist who aimed to make a difference and celebrate her life and legacy. This poem still feels very relevant to this day, 22 years later, because we are still witnessing the way Earth cries on our watch. This poem reminds us about our collective duty to this planet and the ways it can either flourish or diminish under our care.

The second offering, Gloriosa - the scientific name for Flame Lily, the national flower of Zimbabwe - is a poem about matrilineal lineages, familial and non familial. It is about the women we descend from and how their hard work allows us to move through the world with more ease than before. It is a celebration of that bravery and an invocation of their resilience, grace and strength in the face of life’s difficulties. This track has lived various lives since being first written in 2018 for BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction.

mamoyo.bandcamp.com
sibin.bandcamp.com

harp, beats & dreams

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