Edith WeUtonga on “Varipasi”: Folk Album of the Year 2025 Nominee
Folk on Foot
Matthew Bannister
4.8 • 526 Ratings
🗓️ 9 December 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Born in Zimbabwe - but now resident in the UK - Edith WeUtonga is known as Mama Bass - because that’s the instrument she has made her own. She’s also an acclaimed singer, songwriter, and campaigner for musicians' rights. In this conversation with Matthew Bannister, she tells how the death of her beloved grandmother inspired her to write the songs that make up her Folk Album of the Year nominated work “Varipasi”.
---
We rely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like what we do please either...
Become a member and get great rewards: patreon.com/folkonfoot
Or just buy us a coffee: ko-fi.com/folkonfoot
Sign up for our newsletter at www.folkonfoot.com
Follow us on Bluesky/Facebook/Instagram: @folkonfoot
---
Keep up to date with the Folk Album of the Year Award: https://www.folkonfoot.com/award
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | So this episode of the Folk Album of the Year Award special podcasts is showcasing the wonderful work of Edith Wiu Tonga, who made an album called Vary Passy. And I want to know so much |
| 0:24.2 | from you, Edith, about the background to this album, about your own musical story. But first of all, |
| 0:29.7 | congratulations on being nominated for the Folk Album of the Year Award. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 0:35.1 | Thank you. I'm so, so overwhelmed. I'm in shock. I'm excited. I don't know what to do right now. I'm |
| 0:40.9 | still very giddy. Very glad that you're happy. So tell us a little bit about yourself and about your |
| 0:46.8 | background. So my name is Edith Wotonga. A lot of people at home love to call me Mama Bass, because I play |
| 0:53.3 | the bass guitar. I'm a mother of |
| 0:56.0 | five children, three boys and two girls, and I love music. I've been a musician since the |
| 1:02.3 | year 2000 professionally in Zimbabwe and I only came to the United Kingdom in 2019. And then at that time, I just came here to do my master's music in development and straight |
| 1:16.6 | into lockdown. |
| 1:18.6 | And all the dreams that I had about what I was going to do with my music then, everything seemed to stop. |
| 1:24.6 | I must have been a bit of a nightmare for you. |
| 1:26.6 | It was. |
| 1:28.0 | Yeah. |
| 1:28.6 | But which part of Zimbabwe do you come from? |
| 1:30.9 | And do you come from a musical family? |
| 1:34.0 | Yes, I come from a very musical family, I want to say, |
| 1:37.1 | because my mom's side of the family has conductors in the choir. |
| 1:42.8 | My grandparents used to sing. |
| 1:45.2 | And so things about harmony is something that has come naturally, |
| 1:50.0 | especially from my mother's side of the family, |
| 1:51.8 | because we used to just sing. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Matthew Bannister, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Matthew Bannister and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.