Chiwoniso Maraire

Chiwoniso Maraire (Born 5 March 1976 - 24 July 2013), was an accomplished singer, songwriter, and exponent of Zimbabwean mbira music. She was the daughter of the late renowned Zimbabwean mbira player and teacher Dumisani Maraire. She spent the first seven years of her life away from her homeland, Zimbabwe, as her father had moved the family to Washington State in the U.S. in 1970 to pursue a degree in Ethnomusicology. Chiwoniso played a role as one of the most revolutionary mbira players crossing all musical borders with the instrument inspiring young Zimbabweans to play the mbira in a more modern and contemporary way. She did collaborations with countless musicians and artists from across the world. On the album Ancient Voices (produced 1995) she melded the conventional and modern, sang in English and African languages, and used contemporary instruments and traditional African instruments such as the mbira. She learned how to play the instrument despite the fact that traditionally, women in Zimbabwe were not permitted to play it. The mbira, she said, "Is like a large xylophone. It is everywhere in Africa under different names: sanza, kalimba, etc. For us in Zimbabwe it is the name for many string instruments. There are many kinds of mbiras. The one that I play is called the nyunga nyunga, which means sparkle-sparkle."