Touring Seattle musical ensemble Publish The Quest recently put up a scintillating act at the ZOL Main stage at HIFA that left many feeding from their hands, and even the drizzles that punctuated their performance could not deter the full house from moving their feet, shaking their bodies and keeping their minds engaged.
Led by songwriter Jacob Bain, the octet serenaded even the senior citizenry of Harare with a discography that took some followers of their music down memory lane right back to the formative years of the band in 2008 when they put together their first production titled The Threads.
Group members (Jacob) Bain, Jeff DeMelle, Mark Oi, Samantha Boshnack, Izaak Mills, Adam Kessler and Chris Poage were making a return to the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) following a debut performance back in 2011, and they did not disappoint.
“We are here to support the festival, a gathering that supports and showcases the very best of domestic, regional and international arts in a comprehensive program of theatre, dance, music, street performances, the spoken word and visual arts.”
“If you recall the last time we were here, we engaged in initiatives such as conducting workshops for the underprivileged potential young artists and this and more that we have done at this convergence goes on to show what we are for in terms of rendering support to Manuel Bagorro who has been friends with us for more than 40 years,” said Bain in an interview.
Having previously done collaborations with Femi Kuti, Matt Chamberlain, Eyving Kang, Radioactive and Vieux Farka Toure, the band has also recorded a song that benefitted a school of music in Cape Verde as part of its initiatives to give back to disadvantaged communities.
“When the invitation came through once again, we said to ourselves, we certainly have to burn some holes in our pockets and make an appearance and we really appreciate the pasta lovers back home who appreciate the PTQ sauce and saw the need to give a helping hand by spreading a little bit of it here in Harare,” said the band leader.
Acknowledging the abuse of firearms in his native country, they played a song with the lines, “don’t you point that gun at me, coz if I have to retreat that means we can’t speak.”
Throw back to PQT’s 2011 HIFA show:
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