ITHEMBA

“How much does a telephone call from hell to Zimbabwe cost? – 5 Cents: it’s a local call,” jokes Marvelous, a singer. Admittedly his mobile bill goes into the millions in a country where the inflation rate hits 231 million percent. Marvelous has it twice as hard in a land where disability is often attributed to witchcraft. His band Liyana resorts to using humour and sings of “Ithemba” – hope. Their hope is to achieve freedom through music. “When others’ lives fall apart, they still have arms and legs; all we have is music,” says Prudence, the lead singer, stoically. “I want to sing in a way that people forget that I am disabled.”_And, in actual fact, over the course of the film the musicians fascinate us less because of their affliction and more because of their wit, talent and charisma.