Fitzgerald Munyoro
Talented composer, actor, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist John Falsetto is set to compose and arrange Meet My Ancestors, a theatrical production and album telling stories from Zimbabwean culture through ancient mbira (a traditional instrument) music fused with contemporary sounds.
The play is being funded by the Genesis Foundation. The Mbira musical experiment will feature one of Zimbabwe’s most talented beatboxer Probeatz.
Falsetto is steadily building a reputation for himself in British theatre, including the award-winning The Jungle by Good Chance Theatre and Ben Johnson’s Volpone for Tangle Theatre Company.
The multi-faceted artist was first discovered and signed by Shani Gonzales and Ayla Owen, with a specific focus on Falsetto scoring for Film, TV and Theatre via Warner Chappell’s newly created bespoke score and neoclassical initiative, WCM Neo.
John Falsetto got his break in 2011, when he competed in the Chibuku Road To Fame together with a group called Mnandi Band and they would emerged as the winners.
Mnandi Band was made Raymond Mupfumira ,Arthur Timbe, Blessing Chimanga, Isheunopa Jere and the late Tatenda Kanjatu who have all become respectable names in the local and regional musical jazz scene.
feature in Falsetto’s new production
His stage acting chops where evident for the world when he featured in the play Who Are You, which was staged at the 2007 Harare International Festival of Arts (Hifa). After this he would move to Theatre In the Park where he had a role in the play Loupe that later toured Algeria and Ireland.
The play won a National Arts Merit Award for the best theatre production in 2009.
During that same year, Pfumojena was nominated at the Southern African Achievers Awards (UK) in the Musician and Entertainer of the year category. Other plays in which he featured at Theatre in the Park are Wedding Night and Waiting for the Constitution.
Named after a famous member of the Beatles, Falsetto was born John Lenon Pfumojena on 1 July 1989 in Masvingo, Zimbabwe to Silipa Wendy Mafuba, Lenon Johannes Pfumojena. His father was a district attorney but would pass on when he was only 5 years of age, while his mother was a teacher who would die when he was only 11.
John Pfumojena started his education at Moffat Primary School in Harare, then in 1999 moved to Denbeigh Junior School in Luton, UK. For his high schooling he attended Lea Manor High School, in the UK and would later move to Prince Edward High School, Harare for his O’ and A’ levels where he honed his musical skills.
He attained a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Inclusive Performance with Middlesex University in London.
