success in life - for youth, by youth
AFRO VIBES BAND
Raymond's band for swinging South African music and dance
Afro Vibes Band was a South African music and dance group led by Raymond Matinyana employing talents of musicians and dancers from South Africa, Ghana, Suriname, the Netherlands, Brazil and Morocco. The band played mostly traditional South African styles of music sometimes a fusion of west African Rhythms. The band had its own composition and style, now and then they will play popular covers from Africa and South America. The songs were sung in Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans, Sotho, and other languages like English etc.
The Afro Vibes Band was based in Amsterdam and performed not only in the Netherlands but also in the rest of World. The band did not only do concerts but performed in all sorts of celebrations and business events. The band's music and dance energy always captured the mood of the audience and one of its qualities was audience participation. The band performed with 7 or 8 musicians.
The main members of the band
Vuyo Raymond Matinyana
Born in Port Alfred, South Africa
Education: FUBA Johannesburg (drama and speech)
Performed with e.g. Up with People and Afro Vibes in the United States, Europe and South Africa
TV: in the Netherlands and South Africa
Poppie Dladla
Born in Soweto, South Africa
Tibatso Liholo
Born in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Jina Sumedi
Born in the Netherlands
Education: New York and Conservatory Rotterdam (improvisation and Latin-American music)
Performed with several bands, toured in i.a. Europe, Kenya, Japan, Ghana, Korea and South Africa
TV: in the Netherlands, Germany, Indonesia and South Africa
Mensah Kweku
Born in Ghana
Performed with: band of Luther Vandros, Kongo Banga, Afro Vibes Band, Magica from Mozambique, and A.U.B. Nigeria.
Simone Croes
Born in the Netherlands
Education: Conservatory in Hilversum (bass guitar)
Performed with several bands, toured in i.a. Curaçao, Austria, Cuba, Switzerland and to South Africa with Afro Vibes
TV: Paul Haenen (the Netherlands)
