Monoswezi

Group

Monoswezi

From
Norway
Since
2010–present
Releases
6

About

Monoswezi is a trans-national music collective composed of Hope Masike (voice, mbira, percussion), Calu Tsemane (voice, percussion), Hallvard Godal (saxophone, clarinet, harmonium), Putte Johander (bass), and Erik Nylander (drums, percussion). The band's name is a portmanteau from the first few letters of the members’ respective nationalities: Mozambique, Norway, Sweden and Zimbabwe. Monoswezi is also a combination of the Greek word “mono”, meaning “one”, and “swezi”, which means “world” in a native South African dialect. Their music has been classified as a fusion between Scandinavian and African music, under the expansive “jazz” umbrella.

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The band was born out of a cultural exchange program between Africa and Norway back in 2008, when Godal lived in Mozambique and met Tsemane. Soon after, Tsemane and Masike connected with Godal back in Norway and began making music together. Since then the band has produced 3 albums under Riverboat Records and tours internationally. Their first album, The Village, was nominated for the Songlines Music Awards in 2014.

From Monoswezi on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Members

Discography

Albums 6

Links

Identifiers

Data from MusicBrainz, saved 15 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.