By Simon Ngena

ONE of Zimbabwe’s most respected mbira players and vocalists, Chiwoniso Maraire, died on July 24, 2013 of suspected pneumonia at South Medical Centre, Chitungwiza. She was 37. Born on March 5, 1976, in Olympia, Washington, US, the mbira icon would have turned 49 this year. Chiwoniso was a groundbreaking artiste. Her music transcended musical boundaries, blending traditional music with blues, jazz, pop, hip-hop and reggae.

The daughter of Zimbabwean mbira maestro and teacher Dumisani Abraham Maraire who later worked as an offi cer in the Ministry of Sports and Culture in the early 1980s, Chiwoniso spent most of her adolescence in both Zimbabwe and the United States. “Musical instruments were a core element of my childhood. By the age of four I was playing mbira; ‘Tichazomuona’, my first recording with my parents, was released when I was nine,” she recalled. Chiwoniso recorded a fi rst solo CD, Ancient Voices that won the International Discovery Competition (Decouverte Afrique 98) award presented by R.F.I. (Radio France International) and the French Foreign Offi ce. Ancient Voices was a roaring success and brought critical acclaim to the budding musician, who fronted Chiwoniso & Vibe Culture for several years.

From 2001 to 2004, she was also a core member of the multinational all-women’s band Women’s Voice, whose original members hailed from Norway, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, America, Israel and Algeria. The daughter of Zimbabwean mbira master and teacher Dumisani Abraham Maraire, who was an officer in the Ministry of Sports and Culture in the early 1980s, her favourite mbira was the nyunga nyunga. The nyunga nyunga originated from Manicaland where it traditionally was used for entertainment during social gatherings and commemorations.

The typical nyunga nyunga mbira has 15 metal keys in two rows with a small silver metal plate attached to the bottom of the instrument. The metal plate has two fl attened bottle caps on it, which are decorated with an eagle logo. The alignment of the keys causes the pitches of the keys to radiate out from the centre, rather than from left to right. Despite the close similarity in names, it is quite different from the nyonganyonga of Mozambique, a close relative of the matepe. While in the US, Chiwoniso spent part of her high school years at the Northwest School in Seattle, Washington.

When she moved back to Zimbabwe she attended Mutare Girls’ High School and attended evening classes at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), where Dumisani was a lecturer. When the family moved back to Zimbabwe, Dumisani and Chiwoniso played in clubs and churches while she attended the Zimbabwe College of Music where she did a two-year National Certifi cate in Music (NCM) and studied sociology as well. In 1991, when she was 15, she formed part of the Afro-fusion hip-hop trio A Peace of Ebony, which “was perhaps the fi rst group to fuse mbira with contemporary beats”. They recorded an album titled ‘From The Native Tongue’. The group won the Best New Group out of Southern Africa award in the Radio France International Discovery contest. A track from the album, ‘Vadzimu’ appears on the Putumayo ‘African Grooves’ compilation.

The success with A Piece of Ebony led her to join Zimbabwe’s leading band, Andy Brown and The Storm. At the same time, Chiwoniso continued to write her own music, and performed alongside other artistes with the support of The Storm. The Storm became one of Zimbabwe’s biggest bands, touring the world and winning accolades. Maraire’s angelic voice and Brown’s plucky guitar made a beautiful combination. In 1995, she recorded her fi rst album, ‘Ancient Voices’, in which she mixed traditional and modern beats, sung in English and Shona, and used both contemporary instruments and traditional African instruments such as the mbira, hosho and ngoma.

In later years, Chiwoniso fronted her acoustic group Chiwoniso & Vibe Culture. After releasing ‘Ancient Voices’ to international acclaim she went on to record more albums: ‘Timeless’ (2004), ‘Hupenyu Kumusha’, ‘Life at Home, Impilo Ekhaya’, ‘The Collaboration: Volume 1′ (2006) and ‘Rebel Woman’ (2008). No stranger to awards, the mbira player was honoured by Radio France (“Decouverte Afrique”) for her debut album, ‘Ancient Voices’ (1998), and was nominated in the Kora All-Africa Music Awards for best female vocals of Africa in 1999.The album entered the World Music Charts Europe three times. In September 2008, Chiwoniso released her fourth album and fi rst international album in over 10 years, titled ‘Rebel Woman’.

The album perfectly mirrored Chiwoniso’s life in the sense that she sang about all her personal experiences and those of others. From her own spirituality to a passerby on the street, every song on ‘Rebel Woman’ was infl uenced by a specifi c event in her life. On the album, Chiwoniso blended ancient, African soul with modern spirit accompanied with the melodies of the mbira and deep grooves.

In late 2008, Chiwoniso relocated to the United States where promoters arranged a tour of Europe and Canada for her. She returned to Zimbabwe in 2010. From 2001 to 2004, she was also a core member of the multinational all-women band Women’s Voice, whose original members hailed from Norway, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, United States, Israel and Algeria. Chiwoniso also starred in fi lm, having worked on the soundtracks for movies and documentaries by an array of Zimbabwean writers and fi lm producers. She made her last recording in March 2013, and ‘Zvichapera’, a cover of Thomas Mapfumo’s song, was released posthumously in 2015. She died at South Medical Hospital in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe, aged 37. The cause of death was the result of suspected pneumonia, just a year after the death of her ex-husband, Andy Brown.

The couple were survived by two daughters, Chengeto and Chiedza. On September 12, 2015, Chiedza Brown (15) committed suicide. Chiedza was also a musician in the mbira tradition like her mother and an accomplished singer. Chiwoniso was buried at her rural home in Chakohwa, Mutambara. The burial was, however, marred by a family dispute. Her body was kept in the car after the Maraire family refused it entry into the Bluff Hill house where she lived.

The drama followed to Chakohwa where again her body remained in its hearse overnight. Before the burial on Monday, no body viewing was allowed by the funeral parlour. Her uncle, Tennyson Maraire, was quoted as telling mourners: “We were told not to open the casket because the disease that claimed her life is quite contagious.” No doubt, Chiwoniso’s death robbed the music fraternity of a sincere, creative, innovative, serious and dedicated singer and performer, but most of all, her death seemed to have buried the mbira genre with her. Just like Mbuya Stella Chiweshe, history will remember Chiwoniso Maraire as being instrumental in taking Zimbabwean mbira music to the international world and to a higher level.