The Land Remembers Zambia Rises
Zambian performers gathered beneath a dramatic sky, with river, rain and warm light

An original Zambian cultural performance

The Land Remembers.
Zambia Rises.

A choral-orchestral journey of river, rain, ceremony and home, uniting a recorded symphonic foundation with live voices, percussion, movement and cinematic projection.

Created by Michelle Rachel Steinberg

Watch “Carry the King” Join the production

The vision

The land is not a backdrop. It is a witness.

This new concert-theatre work listens to Zambia through its waterways, first rains, ceremonies, journeys and collective memory.

The production is designed as a meeting place between heritage and contemporary stagecraft. A recorded orchestral score provides scale and consistency, while Zambian singers, choir, percussionists and dancers bring each performance fully alive.

“A country remembers through rhythm, movement, story and the voices it chooses to carry forward.”

The stage language

One work. Many living voices.

A scalable format allows the work to travel while preserving the immediacy of live performance and the dignity of its cultural sources.

01

Orchestral foundation

A cinematic recorded score carries the harmonic architecture, giving the production symphonic breadth without requiring a full touring orchestra at every venue.

02

Live human voice

Featured soloists and a resonant choir make every performance immediate, communal and unmistakably rooted in people rather than playback alone.

03

Percussion and movement

Live rhythm and choreographed movement animate river, work, rain, procession and home through a contemporary performance vocabulary.

04

Projected world

Purpose-built film and imagery transform the venue into a living landscape, connecting intimate human stories with Zambia’s immense physical beauty.

A luminous river at sunset, drawn from the Carry the King concept film
River as memory
Women singing together on a blue-lit stage, drawn from the Carry the King concept film
Voice as inheritance

The full production

From remembrance to rising.

A Preamble and thirteen connected movements carry the audience across land, rain, river, ceremony, family, leadership and living memory.

The recorded orchestral foundation is brought into the room by live soloists, choir, percussionists and dancers, with narration, lighting and cinematic projection binding the journey together.

13Original linked musical movements
2 actsWith one 15-minute intermission
≈ 90 minTarget full theatrical experience
Preamble + Act I

Roots and Renewal

The land awakens. A household begins its day beneath an open sky; a community calls for rain, receives it and plants toward tomorrow.

00

Preamble: The Listening Land

A spoken and visual invocation opens the performance in darkness. Low percussion, breath, river sound and emerging light invite the audience to listen before the first note rises.

I

The Land Remembers

An ancestral prologue introduces Zambia as a meeting of distinct peoples, landscapes, waterways and generations.

II

Morning at Siamphande

The homestead wakes in Southern Province: fire, field, family labour, children, cattle and the shared dignity of an ordinary day.

III

Lwiindi: Call to the Rain

A restrained communal appeal gathers urgency around land, seasonal rain, thanksgiving and ancestral remembrance.

IV

The First Rain

The sky answers. Tenor, full choir, percussion, moving fabric and projection build the monumental emotional summit of the first act.

V

Lwiindi: Seeds of Tomorrow

After rain, the soil opens. Seed baskets, hoes, maize, sorghum and groundnuts turn renewal into work, food security and hope.

15-minute intermission
Act II

People, Passage and Legacy

The journey widens into royal procession, harvest, women’s authority, marriage, mourning, migration and cross-border gathering before every voice returns for the finale.

VI

Nalikwanda: The Litunga’s Journey

A majestic restart inspired by the public world of Kuomboka: the Barotse floodplain, paddles, procession and the river carrying a people’s memory.

VII

Nc’wala: The First Taste

Rhythm, harvest and communal pride evoke the public first-fruits celebration of the Ngoni people and the renewal of responsibility.

VIII

Mukamambo: The Women Who Carry the Line

A women-led movement honours lineage, leadership, counsel, farming and the public authority embodied by Zambia’s women custodians.

IX

Ubwinga: Two Families, One Fire

A contemporary Zambian wedding composite brings together lobola, elders, chitenge, food, laughter and the obligations of a new household.

X

The Elders’ Road: Siamphande

The work reaches its quietest valley through farewell, mourning, relatives gathering and the passage from personal grief into living memory.

XI

Ng’wena: The Crocodile Remembers

A migration journey draws on Bemba historical memory, river crossings and the endurance of identity carried across generations.

XII

Mkaika, We Gather

Roads converge in a Chewa-inspired cross-border gathering of homage, reports, gifts, dancing and shared cultural belonging.

XIII

The Land Remembers, Zambia Rises

The full company returns. Themes of rain, river, women, family, elders and migration become one final declaration: many rivers, many homes, one land that remembers. Zambia, rise.

Cultural stewardship The work is an original contemporary performance, not a recreation of restricted or sacred ceremonial material. Culturally specific language, imagery, costume, movement and protocol will be developed and reviewed with appropriate Zambian cultural advisers and custodians before public staging.
The official playbill cover showing Zambian performers, rain and river landscape illuminated by sunrise
An original Zambian cultural performance The Land Remembers. Zambia Rises. A choral-orchestral journey of river, rain, ceremony and home
By Michelle Rachel Steinberg

The official playbill

Hold the journey in your hands.

The playbill introduces the artistic vision, cultural landscape and people behind the production. It is designed as both a guide for the audience and a lasting record of a shared Zambian cultural experience.

Its final programme pages will follow the completed artistic sequence, with space for performers, cultural advisers, production partners and founding sponsors.

Preview edition The movement order and programme details remain subject to final artistic direction and cultural review.
Request the preview playbill

Concept film

Carry the King

A first glimpse of the emotional scale, visual world and musical ambition of the performance. Turn up the sound and enter the journey.

FormatChoral-orchestral concept film
Duration3 minutes 49 seconds
Visual productionCreated in Canva

A call to build

Bring your craft to the stage.

The founding season needs skilled collaborators who can match artistic ambition with respect, precision and care.

Tell us how you can contribute

The founding season

Eight performances. One cultural platform.

The first season is conceived as more than a concert run. It is a visible investment in Zambian talent, cultural storytelling, technical capability and international connection.

Partnership can take the form of cash sponsorship, venue support, technical equipment, hospitality, transport, communications, artist development or cross-cultural programming.

Discuss a partnership
8Proposed performances
28+Paid creative and production roles
$123.7kIllustrative total programme cost
$85kIndicative external funding target

Figures are preliminary planning estimates in US dollars and will be refined with confirmed venue, cast, technical and partnership quotations.

Cultural partnership

Zambian at its heart. Open to the world.

The work offers a generous platform for communities and institutions that have helped shape Zambia’s social, cultural and economic story.

Its founding outreach can honour the Indian community’s long contribution to Zambia while remaining adaptable for wider cultural collaboration, including Zambia-China, Zambia-Mozambique and other regional or international partnerships. Each partnership should deepen exchange without diluting Zambian authorship.

  • Cultural heritage and tourismVisibility
  • Creative employment and skillsCapacity
  • Diplomacy and international exchangeConnection
  • Education and public engagementLegacy

Contact us

Help raise the first curtain.

Share your interest, capability or partnership idea. The founding production team welcomes serious conversations with artists, technicians, institutions, sponsors and cultural advocates.