Simba Morri needs our help!

As many of you may have recently seen on Facebook, full time, professional musician Simba Morri (and former Shifty Records and 3rd Ear Music recording artist) has some serious health issues, compounded by financial problems as a result of being a full time, professional musician! Plus the COVID-19 lockdown has not helped Simba’s situation. Initial posts about the issue helped get some funds into the account of Guillaume Rossouw AKA Gil Gap (of punk legends Safari Suits) a close friend of Simba's who is assisting on getting him the relevant medical tests so that we can understand all that will be required going forward to properly care for Simba Morri.

PLEASE NOTE: Updates on Simba's condition will happen here, as well as on the Shifty website (https://shifty.co.za) and also our Shifty Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/shiftysince84)

We ask that you please consider contributing to this fund, any amount is acceptable as it will all help, if you are unable to contribute financially (we realise it is tough for everyone out there) then please share it with people you think can, we're also open to any other ideas and will be pursuing other fundraising avenues.

Purchasing Mapantsula or Simba Morri titles from the Shifty Records Bandcamp (https://shiftyrecords.bandcamp.com) will also see all funds raised go towards assisting Simba. Matthew van der Want has kindly donated proceeds of his latest recorded release "Knocked Back Down" to Simba. The album is excellent and available to download at https://matthewvanderwant.bandcamp.com

THE SHIFTY SIMBA FUND

Any funds not used for Simba’s situation will go towards a new legally formulated and administered fund set up to assist impoverished Shifters who may require emergency medical assistance in the future.

PAYPAL PAYMENTS:

THE PLATFORM MAKES IT HARD TO CONNECT PAYPAL DUE TO SOUTH AFRICAN CURRENCY RESTRICTIONS SO PLEASE USE OUR SHIFTY BUSQR ACCOUNT BELOW SHOULD YOU WISH TO USE PAYPAL AND WE WILL ADD IT TO THE UPDATES HERE AND ON THE WEBSITE.

ABOUT SIMBA MORRI

Simba Morri, is a South African musician and producer of Kenyan origin. He came to South Africa as a scholar and studied anthropology at the University of Witwatersrand before pursuing music full time. He became a regular performer as part of the band Mapantsula, playing at political gatherings, cultural events and fundraising concerts as part of an alternative music scene inside South Africa during the dark days of the 1980s. Significantly, his music added a valuable pan-African dimension at a time when South Africa was culturally and politically isolated from the rest of the world.

In 1986 he was invited by Shifty Records to record his debut album “Wasamata” featuring Mozambican musician Gito Baloi on Bass and backing vocals. Consequently, later that year, together with Ian Herman, Morri and Gito also contributed composition and musical backing to the Mzwakhe Mbuli’s debut album, “Change is Pain” as well as the 1989 release, “Unbroken Spirit”.

In 1994, he was invited to perform at the “Out of Africa “ Arts festival - in Seoul, South Korea. During 1995-1996 two of Morri’s songs “Unity” and “Celebrating Life / Siyajabula” were used by the South African Broadcasting Corporation elections unit as part of the voter motivation campaign.

On the live performance front, He maintained a high profile on the alternative music scene and the cultural circuit with occasional shows at the Market, Playhouse, and Baxter theatres, in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town. 1996 saw him supporting Crosby, Stills & Nash for their Johannesburg concert, and also record the "Celebrating Life" album. In 1997 he performed at the Fin de Siecle Festival in Nantes and Paris, France.

Mild-mannered and humble, this non-smoker and non-drinker is a wonderfully warm and radiant spiritual Troubadour. Fluent in his native Maasai, Morri is also comfortable conversing in Swahili, English, Zulu, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Sotho, Nyanja, Shona, etc. He has performed in most of the SADC countries with regular visits to Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Zambia.

A true exponent of African / world music, Morri collaborates with artists from all over the world, introducing them to South African audiences, whilst he has also been invited to perform and conduct workshops abroad in France, Holland, UK., and the Far East.

He is truly a unique, versatile and flexible artist, capable of playing a variety of musical styles and singing in many different languages, from his original African / world music to Jazz-Blues, Latino & standards.

OFFLINE DONATIONS:

You'll see a second total just below the main GoGetFunding total - here we'll add amounts that are collected outside of the GoGetFunding campaign which have been paid to Shifty direct, details of these below:

Matthew van der Want - R1265
Steve Collins - R500

MORE LINKS:

1001 South African Songs You Must Hear Before You Go Deaf
https://1001sasongs.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/pambere-mapantsula/

Simba Morri - Wasamata
https://shiftyrecords.bandcamp.com/

Matthew van der Want - Knocked Back Down
https://matthewvanderwant.bandcamp.com/