Mutupo Festival 2026: Dereck Mpofu Celebrates Zimbabwean Totems & Cultural Heritage

By Valerie Mpundu

We might be a people of different backgrounds, but in Zimbabwe, our heritage and culture bind us.

That is the driving idea behind the Mutupo Festival, hosted by cultural advocate Dereck Mpofu (popularly known by his totem name, Mhofu yemkono).

Slated for Saturday, October 3, 2026, at the Sherwood Golf Club in Mabelreign, Harare, the gathering brings together musicians, poets, traditional dancers, and cultural custodians to celebrate mutupo—the ancestral totems that have long defined Zimbabwean identity, social structure, and kinship.

For Mpofu, the festival is about more than stage performance; it is about collective remembrance and intergenerational learning.

"The language and region may be different, but the culture binds us," Mpofu says.

Lineup and Performers

The festival will showcase a wide array of top local artists and traditional groups:

• Featured Contemporary Artists: Gift Amuli, Kurai Makore, Baba Harare, Mbeu, Micky Black, Cynthia Mare, and Progress Chipfumo.

  
  

• Traditional Groups & Storytellers: Kuwadzana KweVaripasi Mbira Group, Samba Yarira, Nduxu Sisters, Mbare Chimurenga Choir, Ganya Up Dance Ensemble, and traditional storyteller Sekuru Gora.

  
  

Organizers note that additional acts will be announced in the weeks leading up to the event as momentum builds.

Dressing Your Totem

Each performing act will represent their respective clan history through song, dance, oral poetry, and indigenous attire. Patrons attending the event are actively encouraged to wear traditional garments and to "dress your totem" to celebrate their familial roots.

In an era where many young Zimbabweans are increasingly disconnected from their clan lineages and oral histories, the Mutupo Festival positions culture not as an obsolete relic, but as a vibrant, living practice.

Mutupo Festival Zimbabwe 2026