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| Gone too soon - Chiwoniso Maraire |
On Wednesday the
24th of July 2013, Zimbabwe woke up to the sad news of the passing
of a much loved woman in the country’s music circles. It was the shocking death
of Chiwoniso Maraire. Those who knew her quite well called her Chichi.
Only last year,
I did a collection of Chiwoniso Maraire’s music. I did not appreciate Chiwoniso
that much until in early 2010 when I listened to her song on the album Famba Zvakanaka: Safe Journey by the International
Organisation for Migration (IOM), a collaboration project of prominent local
artists that sought to address the issues of illegal migration and the risks of
HIV/AIDS at the height of Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis. Since then,
I have been a follower of Chiwoniso. I have appreciated her talented voice and
the richness she brought to the platform each time she took to the stage. It
was easy for Chiwoniso to become one of my top favourite artists. Her death is
devastating. No more new stuff from Chiwoniso! It is true that sometimes we do
not realise just how much important someone is, and the beauty of what they
give us until they are gone. I have known of this, but I have certainly been
reminded. A tribute to her is in order.
There is
something about Chichi’s music, something about her love affair with mbira that
stood out. Her music was filled with spirituality and spoke to the African
soul, more so to the Zimbabwean soul. She was just as spiritual in her
performance as the mbira instrument is to the African. With her group, The Vibe
Culture, Chiwoniso changed the face of mbira music trotted on untraveled routes
leaving a remarkable trail of excellence and progression.
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| She had a spiritual connection with mbira that was soul-searching |
Whilst the mbira
or thump piano instrument is found in many places across Africa, with some of
its names being mbila, likimbe, zanzu and karimbao, the mbira culture is strongest
in Zimbabwe. Chiwoniso and the Vibe Culture sustained that culture and ushered
its breakthrough in contemporary modern stage and studio performance. According
to Chiwoniso, she played a type of mbira called the mbira nyunga nyunga. Traditionally
only men were allowed to play mbira in Zimbabwe. Chichi turned the tables
around and challenged that patriarchal system, and made a name for herself for
playing mbira, the wheel and steel instrument. That was a solid role on its own
that Chichi played in the feminist movement. But that was only as far as
challenging this traditional system was concerned. Substantively, her music
took this role further. She sang of liberation, child protection, women
emancipation and raised her voice to bring awareness about the suffering that
people went through at home.
On her
remarkable discography, Chiwoniso left us with the masterpiece albums Ancient Voices, Timeless, Rebel Woman,
and Hupenyu Kumusha, Life at Home, Impilo
Ekhaya: The Collaboration Volume 1,
which she did with her colleagues. She also had her song Rebel Woman featured on the international compilation Listen to the Banned, which features the
music of banned, censored and imprisoned artists from the Middle East, Africa
and Asia. To date, Ancient Voices is
perhaps Zimbabwe’s best known album internationally, and the album made her a
star on the world music scene. No doubt, those who will take time to open their
ears and listen to her voice and words will easily see why she became a world
star. My personal favourites from her are Nhemamusasa,
Wandirasa and Listen to the Breeze.
Very few of us
will forget her role in some of the first local films to hit our screens. “Mudiwa Tamari, eh my darling Tamari!”
That was in the movie Everyone’s Child,
directed by the talented Tsitsi Dangarembga and produced by Jonny Persey. Everyone’s Child also emerged in the
same film as a soundtrack from Chichi. Her involvement in this and many other
films speaks of the role she was constantly playing in fighting societal ills,
which almost always was the focus of all the film projects she has been
involved in.
I was in Harare
recently and had planned to watch Chiwoniso perform. I could not have known
that by not fulfilling my plans I had forfeited my last opportunity to see
Chiwoniso live on stage. The stages at the Harare International Festival of
Arts (HIFA), Book Café, Jazz 105 and many other platforms and joints where
music and art lovers conglomerated, local and abroad, will never be the same
again. The void shall be felt.
Among her many
exploits, Chichi will be remembered for her role in exporting Zimbabwe’s music
to the far lands of the West and East.
As one
commentator noted on twitter, Chiwoniso Maraire brought glitz and glamour to
the mbira genre. Through her playing of the mbira instrument, many young people
were inspired to play the mbira in modern and contemporary fashion. Her use of
both the Shona language and English made the mbira genre all the more
interesting, adapting it to modern times and making mbira music go
international. With Chiwoniso, we saw mbira being fused the modern instruments,
producing a blend of sound that made her unique in her own way. She started a
trend and laid a foundation for upcoming musicians to follow her and develop
the genre.
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| The Vibe Culture on stage |
Many had thought
that the departure of Stella Chiweshe from active performance on the local
scene was a death to the kind of sound she had created with mbira, but
Chiwoniso emerged and took it further, adding flair to it. So we had
contemporary mbira grooves led by Chiwoniso on the one hand, and the
traditional all-male mbira outfits led by Mbira dzeNharira, Mbira
dzeChirorodziva and Maungira Enharira on the other. May the likes of Dudu
Manhenga and Hope Masike carry Chiwoniso’s work forward. May they take
contemporary mbira music to another level. That will be a befitting tribute to
Chichi, the queen of mbira music.
I cannot help
but agree with Selmor Mtukudzi; “Hameno Mwari band rakapenga ravarikugadzira
kudenga uko, because it seems he is only picking the most gifted artists”. (God
must be assembling a great band up there in heaven because it seems he is only
picking the most gifted artists). It is celebrations in the heavens I guess,
but to us left behind, it pains. “….So if I cry it’s only because I don’t know
what to do.” I am reminded of Jah Prayzah’s lines in his 2012 collaboration
with Chiwoniso, Mhiriyo; “Baba
vatonga zvapera. Izwi radana zvakwana.” (The Lord has ruled, it is over).
Zvachioniso zvapera! Chiwoniso will be greatly missed.
Musa Kika
Durban, July
2013
