History

Randy McIntosh & Amy Stewart, founding members,
Marimba, mbira, hosho, percussion, dance, support vocals

When marimba musicians Randy McIntosh and Amy Stewart met in 1997, it was the beginning of a fruitful musical and personal partnership. At that time Randy was completing his Master’s in Music Composition at CU-Boulder while playing in the world music ensemble Jambo and the Zimbabwean band Ukama. Amy was studying Zimbabwean spirit music and playing in The Low Flying Knobs.

In 1999 they founded Kutandara, which fuses ancient African music traditions with Latin, jazz, gospel, classical, and world folk influences. In 2001/02 Randy and Amy traveled to Zimbabwe on an artistic grant to study with local musicians. This trip marked the beginning of Randy's long-term collaborative effort with Zimbabwean master musician Cosmas Magaya. Randy continues lto collaborate with Magaya and other master musicians from Zimbabwe when creating new arrangements and transcriptions of traditional music from southern Africa.

Randy also has a parallel project, which is his work on a complete liturgical mass using Western and African styles and themes. The Kyrie and Gloria are already completed and have enjoyed several performances with Colorado choral groups, such as the Alpine Choir and Boulder Chorale.

In 1995 Amy joined a National Women’s Artist collective and continues to be an active member of this on-going group. Besides her marimba-specific instruction, Amy also travels nationally to assist women in achieving their artistic goals.

Today, Kutandara’s exuberant polyrhythmic performances manage to be innovative and deeply-rooted at the same time. Randy and Amy continue to be in demand as performers and teachers, while simultaneously holding down positions as Music Director and Program Director of Kutandara Center music school in Boulder, CO.