Niwot High senior makes virtual music globally

It's not every teen who can find an emergency bandmate in their house, let alone one who can play Zimbabwean music. When Niwot High senior Noah Randall couldn't play in-person with his band during the pandemic, he would say, "Hey Mom, can you play with me?"

It makes sense since she is the one who introduced him to music from Zimbabwe. She saw a band in Boulder and decided to take lessons on the marimba, an instrument similar to a xylophone. Randall was in elementary school at the time and had been listening to her practice.

"One day I just grabbed the mallets from the marimba and I started playing what I heard. She saw me doing that and she was like, 'Where did you learn that?' And I was like, 'I was just listening to you.' She was like, 'OK, we're signing you up right now.'"

Since then, Randall has been taking lessons and playing in bands at Kutandara in Boulder, a music center that teaches Zimbabwean and other southern African music. "Noah Randall is a complete delight to have as part of the Kutandara music community," said Executive Director, Amy Stewart McIntosh. "We've had the opportunity to watch him grow from a shy, but curious, little boy into a confident, generous, kind young man."

Along with the marimba, Randall plays two types of mbira, which he says is a traditional Zimbabwean instrument that goes back thousands of years. Westerners call the instrument a thumb piano. Randall also uses hosho, shakers made out of gourds. In addition to the African instruments, he plays guitar, drums and sings.

"I pride myself that I'm a multi-instrumentalist. I play anything I can get my hands on," Randall said. "I'm constantly practicing. Any free time I have I can usually just pick up an instrument. It's really therapeutic to me. It's not like I even notice I'm practicing. I'm just doing it.

"In its essence it's very similar to American jazz in the way that it's really based on improvisation," he said. Randall's musical range allows him to play traditional Zimbabwean music and Western fusion with elements of pop and Latin beats.

Randall is in the teen performance band Takapenga at Kutandara. Playing in person has been limited due to the pandemic, but that has opened up unique opportunities to collaborate with people in other states and in Zimbabwe. Each musician records their part at home. The segments are edited into virtual concerts.

"It's really nice in a time when everyone is so far apart, it's a nice way to connect, he said. "It allows us to include some of our friends in Zimbabwe and have a tangible product of our effort."

While Randall has been learning the musical language of Zimbabwe, he's picked up some of the spoken language as well. "That's really fun to be able to sing in a foreign language. The way that the language is, there are a lot of poetic intricacies that may not be present in a direct translation. It's really fascinating because, just having a native language presence, it introduces you really nicely into the nuances of a culture."

Randall was asked to be part of a concert tour of Zimbabwe colleges this summer, but the pandemic put that on hold. He'll be going to the University of Colorado in Boulder this fall, majoring in environmental and evolutionary biology and minoring in education.

"The Zimbabwean music scene in Boulder is really, really unique, so I would really like to keep that," he said. Randall also helps with classes for younger musicians and beginners at Kutandara. "He lives and breathes Zimbabwean music, giving back to the community as much as he's ever gotten from it," said Amy Stuart MacIntosh.

"I am really good at it and I really like inspiring other people to do it. I love the smiles I can get on someone's face just from doing something that I like," Randall said.

Here is a playlist for the virtual ensemble concerts.

Several of Randall's pre-pandemic Takapenga concerts are online.

Here is Randall's performance on the Pearl Street Mall in 2019.