GIWAYEN MATA

GIWAYEN MATA is the award-winning soul-stirring, all-sistah, dance, percussion, and vocal ensemble. Founded in 1993 by Omelika Kuumba, Zuri Sami Ra Maati, Sarahn Henderson, and seven other women of color, GIWAYEN MATA has been dedicated to the perpetuation of Afrikan culture by presenting dances, rhythms, and songs of Afrika and the Afrikan Diaspora to audiences of all ethnicities, ages, and backgrounds.

GIWAYEN MATA’s mission is to celebrate the lives of women and uplift communities and the planet, while perpetuating the cultures of Afrika and the Afrikan Diaspora through the study, creation, teaching, and presentation of artistic media including dances, rhythms, songs, poetry, and prose around the world.

The term GIWAYEN MATA literally translates “Elephant Women” in the West Afrikan Hausa language. This is the title that is given to women who lead women’s organizations. Elephants are matriarchal, nurturing, and powerful as were the founders of GIWAYEN MATA who banned together as women artists who were leaders in the community taking the brave step to play drums in a way that women had not in the city of Atlanta. The founding women of GIWAYEN MATA interpreted the term to mean “Elephant Leaders of Women”. To fulfill this name, GIWAYEN MATA has moved and wooed audiences from New York to Texas and at venues throughout the southeast with entertainment that is empowering, enlightening, and educational.

GIWAYEN MATA’s performances often highlight traditional as well as original and contemporary works addressing issues about people of color, women, and the environment. The ensemble contributes its talents to naming ceremonies, weddings, funerals, family reunions, birthday parties, corporate events, and other special occasions. The shows are often interactive, involve audience participation, and are sometimes followed by a question and answer period: key elements in the excitement and enjoyment generated by the ensemble’s performances. GIWAYEN MATA aspires to perform before local, national, and international audiences, seeks to educate and entertain through performances, concerts, workshop, lecture/demonstrations, and to study and teach on Afrikan continent and abroad.

GIWAYEN MATA has won many awards including the Concerned Black Clergy’s Salute to Black Mothers Award for Outstanding Contribution in Cultural Arts ’01, Winthrop University’s Best Performer of the Year Award “02, and is a three time recipient of Creative Loafing Newspaper’s Critic’s Pick Award for Best World Music Group of Atlanta. Newspaper critic Roni Sarig stated, “to call the all-female group a band is an understatement: they’re more like an event.”

FOR BOOKING INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT GIWAYEN MATA, INC. c/o OMELIKA KUUMBA

416 Pegg RD, S.W. Atlanta, GA 30315

Phone and facsimile 404-766-4001

E-mail:[email protected] or [email protected]