From the streets and clubs of New York City to the tea houses of Japan, the artistic journey of Hip Hop Performance Artist Akim “Funk Buddha” Ndlovu is as multifaceted as his craft. His talents range from classic hip hop rhymes, beat-boxing and Mongolian throat-singing to body-balancing, martial arts, gumboot dance and circus arts. The Brooklyn, NY resident calls his work “myth-breaking and bridge-building.” Fusing sounds with movements and connecting hip hop with a diverse spectrum of cultural traditions, he presents fascinating creative intersections that draw audiences into a vivid, visceral experience.  Akim has been exploring the Japanese tea ceremony for over a decade. He is drawn to the shared ritual quality of it and committed to opening doors to real connection between people through dance theater. He is also deeply inspired by the way the tea ceremony raises awareness of the moment through its meditative silence, stillness and pauses, which he believes is particularly powerful in an urban setting.

It was at an experimental underground New York event when fellow artist Thomas Beale saw him perform a tea ceremony in pantomime that he first learned about the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission’s Creative Artist Program, of which Tom is an alumnus. Akim received the grant in 2014.

“In music, I emphasize an awareness of the space between the beats,” Akim shared. “During my time in Japan, I immersed myself in the rhythm of the Way of Tea: although it is mostly silent, there’s music in every motion.” “I began applying vocal sound effects to the gestures, and created a new way to experience the tea ceremony,” he explained. “The JUSFC fellowship helped me cultivate meaningful relationships with actual practitioners in the art of tea making as well, which informed and inspired me to go deeper in my craft.”

Visiting artist communities in Japan, Akim was invited by many tea ceremony practitioners not only to partake, but to share elements of his process. Tea masters he met included Randy Channel, previously a martial artist so they had much in common to exchange, and Master Ryotaro Souryo Matsumura, founder of the internationally acclaimed Shuhally Tea School in Yokohama. Master Ryotaro invited Akim to accompany him for a TEDxTOKYO talk: Akim throat sang and beat-boxed while Ryotaro performed a tea ceremony. 

A serendipitous conversation with singer songwriter Yuzu Natsumi – Akim had noticed her writing J-Pop musical scores in Sakura Café – resulted in the pair performing together during his residency. Akim brought his New York urban influence to Yuzu, while encouraging her to dig deep into Japanese traditional sound and play Japanese instruments like the Shamisen. Together they created genre-crossing urban folk music. The two recently performed at the 2019 TEDxTokyo, when Akim returned to Japan for another series of collaborative events.   

When hip hop was first emerging from underground New York onto the global stage, Akim moved with his family from Syracuse, NY to his parental homeland in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), Africa. As a young adult, he was an emcee, break-dancer and visual artist in southern Africa. “By the late eighties, after Zimbabwe had become independent, I was a full-fledged b-boy,” he recalled. He returned to the United States in his twenties, becoming a noted emcee/producer and choreographer during hip hop’s golden era of the 90’s. Around that same time, Akim and his brother Dumi Right signed a deal with Hollywood Basic Records and in 1992 released a now classic album, Zimbabwe Legit, that established them as one of the first African hip hop groups to gain international recognition.The album included a co-production with DJ Shadow as well as the Black Sheep (key members of the seminal Native Tongues Collective).

Simultaneously during this time Akim would paint himself into a golden statue and take his performance art to the streets, deepening a contemplative practice of movement and stillness that he had begun to cultivate in his early martial arts training. Channeling his energy he would stand completely still for an extended period of time, then suddenly start moving to interact with curious observers. Embracing this connection inspired the name “Funk Buddha.”

For more than a decade, Akim has focused on an evolving performance called Urban Tea Ceremony. “I use the dance-theater form to explode barriers between disciplines, cultures, races, “high” and “popular” art, spectator and performer.” he says. “I want to dispel the demons that guard the border posts, so our kimonos are sewn from African fabrics, our score consciously evokes Gagaku court music, and the BoomBox becomes the altar, a place of refuge like the tea house.” Akim has performed the piece in many venues, from DC’s Kennedy Center to Brooklyn’s annual SAKURA MATSURI Cherry Blossom Festival.  In his own work, as well as when performing with artists like Bill T. Jones and Bobby McFerrin, he continues to be inspired not only by the aesthetics of tea, but also by how tea leaves are grown, harvested and processed. Akim recently visited tea farms such as d: Matcha in the Wazuka cho-gun region. 

“The flavor of my work is richer because I am more steeped in the art form,” he explains. “I’m now exploring how to let this additional awareness infuse my process and choreography.” His creative practice continues to integrate a breadth of his lived experiences and cultural encounters. New works include “The Silent Opera,” an exploration of what is heard in the unseen and what is seen in the unheard. Stay tuned!

Visit Akim Funk Buddha at his website, and follow him on Facebook and Instagram. For more information about JUSFC’s Creative Artists Fellowships, visit our website here.