Stella Chiweshe - "Rwavasekuru"

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When the young Stella Chiweshe decided to become a m'bira player, there was major consternation from all of those around her. She says the women were as opposed to the idea as the men. As m'bira playing was entirely within the male domain, Chiweshe spent a lot of her time surrounded by men, which led the women in her village to look on her as being "loose," as she states herself. "Men played m'bira, and for me to play m'bira meant that I had to sit with men on either side of me. It made the women very uncomfortable." But, without reservation, Chiweshe remains steadfast that what she went through, her pioneering force at that time, has made her stronger throughout the other areas in her life. Certainly she broke significant new ground for the likes of Virginia Mukwesha (her daughter), Chiwoniso (daughter of celebrated m'bira player, the late Dumisani Maraire) and the countless other female musicians in Zimbabwe today who juggle the burden of the traditional female role in society with the need to perform and be heard

The combination of m'bira and marimba might seem relatively obvious nowadays, but Chiweshe is often credited as the first artist to actually bring the two together. She said she had been searching for a sound that had been evading her since her very first recording back in 1974. She knew what she wanted to hear but couldn't quite grasp how to make this particular sound happen. After almost ten years it clicked, and she now uses two marimbas to recreate the sound of one m'bira, similar to Mapfumo's idea of reconstructing the m'bira sound on guitar. Talking M'bira contains two outstanding examples of this, Chachimurenga and "Manja." But why is it that everything she does harps back to the fundamental sound of the m'bira, and what is the universal appeal of that sound? Chiweshe firmly believes that the gentle m'bira timbre is "closely related to the sound of water, something that is innately familiar to all people, and therefore the m'bira is instantly memorable and comforting. It is a total form of therapy in itself." But it is the power of the spirit of the m'bira that is most vital to Chiweshe, the power to override all the worries of this world and render them inconsequential by comparison, whether one is open to the idea or not. In the liner notes to Talking M'bira, Chiweshe tells touching stories of individuals who have come across the sound of m'bira and suddenly lost the physical pain which has accompanied their lives, and of audience members who have been moved to tears which they feel are not even their own, tears experienced by them but coming from another source within. "People do not truly understand the strength of this power. It can take you completely by surprise." She says this is why people involved in the traditional bira ceremony remove their shoes, in order to let the full extent of the spirit move them with absolute freedom, devoid of inhibition.

( Jennifer Byrne , Roots World )

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