Afro Vibes Band

Raymond's band for swinging South African music and dance

Afro Vibes Band was a South African music and dance group led by Raymond Matinyana employing talents of musicians and dancers from South Africa, Ghana, Suriname, the Netherlands, Brazil and Morocco. The band played mostly traditional South African styles of music sometimes a fusion of west African Rhythms. The band had its own composition and style, now and then they will play popular covers from Africa and South America. The songs were sung in Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans, Sotho, and other languages like English etc.

The Afro Vibes Band was based in Amsterdam and performed not only in the Netherlands but also in the rest of World. The band did not only do concerts but performed in all sorts of celebrations and business events. The band's music and dance energy always captured the mood of the audience and one of it's qualities was audience participation.The band performed with 7 or 8 musicians.

The main members of the band were:

Raymond Matinyana (1969-2001) founder of the Afro Vibes Band Born in Port Alfred, South Africa Education: FUBA Johannesburg (drama and speech) Performed: with e.g. Up with People and Afro Vibes in the United States, Europe and South Africa TV: in the Netherlands and South Africa
		Poppie Dladla: dancer, singer Born in Soweto, South Africa
Tibatso Liholo: dancer, singer Born in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
		Jina Sumedi: keyboard Born in the Netherlands Education: New York and Conservatory Rotterdam (improvisation and Latin-American music) Performed: several bands, toured in i.a. Europe, Kenya, Japan, Ghana, Korea and South Africa TV: in the Netherlands, Germany, Indonesia and South Africa
Mensah Kweku: guitar Born in Ghana Performed: band of Luther Vandros, Kongo Banga, Afro Vibes Band, Magica from Mozambique, and A.U.B. Nigeria.
		Simone Croes: bass guitar Born in the Netherlands Education: Conservatory in Hilversum (bass guitar) Performed: several bands, toured in i.a. Cura�ao, Austria, Cuba, Switzerland and to South Africa with Afro Vibes TV: Paul Haenen (the Netherlands)