Chiwoniso played and recorded as a child with her father’s marimba groups Dumi and Minanzi and then with Mhuri ya Maraire’ (The Maraire Family). At the age of 15, she returned to Zimbabwe with her family.

In 1991 Chiwoniso met two young hip-hop artists Herbert Schwamborn and Tony Chihota, and formed Zimbabwe's first Afro hip-hop group A Peace of Ebony. They recorded an album From The Native Tongue in 1992 in Keith Farquharson?s studio, with Keith contributing much of the music and production.  

In 1994, Peace Of Ebony won the the Best New Group out of Southern Africa award in the Radio France International Discovery contest. P.O.E?s entry ?Vadzimu?, a song they composed specifically for the competition, was a potent mixture of the Shona, English and French languages riding over a heavy mbira-laced hip-hop rhythm. 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. It was at that time that her talents as singer and musician blossomed. The Storm achieved huge success both in Zimbabwe and abroad. They played various concerts in Europe and Africa, including performances at the SADC Music Festival in Zimbabwe in 1995 and The Masa Festival in Ivory Coast, in 1997.

At the same time, Chiwoniso continued to write her own music, and performed alongside other artists with the support of The Storm. She also embarked on the 2 year General Certificate in music course with the Zimbabwe College of Music and studied sociology as well. She believes that the artist has to flow with the times, otherwise the public turns away to follow the latest craze. Keeping with that belief, Chiwoniso took up the challenge of learning and playing percussion including the mbira, an African thumb piano indigenous to the Shona people of her country. In Zimbabwe’s old tradition, women were not allowed to play the mbira, but the bright young star lives in a time where the past and the present must work together to move forward. The mbira, she says, "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. They are many kind of mbiras. The one that I play is called the knuwga-knuwga, which means brilliance-brilliance."

Music has always been a natural element of Chiwoniso’s environment. "My mother performed until she was eight months and half into her pregnancy. I was born in our house. An American-Indian midwife assisted my mother in the delivery. That’s how my parents wanted it to be." While her parents were teaching music in the downstairs rooms of their home, Chiwoniso and her brother would play around with the percussion instruments that were all over the house. "My father never forced us to play music and did not care even if we broke any of the instruments, as long as we created our own experience."

As a vocalist, Chi’s musical gift developed and matured with The Storm over the years, and led her to the recording of her first solo CD, Ancient Voices, for which she received the Decouverte Afrique 98 award presented by R.F.I. (Radio France International) and the French Foreign Office.

In 1998, Chiwoniso won the Radio France International Discovery Competition in her own capacity and signed a contract with LusAfrica,  resulting in her first CD Ancient Voices, recorded and produced by Keith Farquharson.  

Ancient Voices was a tremendous success and brought critical acclaim to this talented young Zimbabwean mbira player. Of note was Chiwoniso?s ability to flawlessly interweave English and Shona, an ability that has become a strong signature in her work. Ancient Voices is a successful fusion of blues, jazz, rap, reggae and rhythms from Zimbabwe.

Chiwoniso has been fronting her acoustic group 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. 

Her musical collaborations have included recording with Marie Boine, Brilliant, Kris Kristoffersen and Sinead OConnor on the CD celebrating the 100th commemoration of the Nobel Peace Prize Awards, composing and performing for the UNDP Africa 2015 song project Les Tams-Tams de l'Afrique alongside Salif Keita, Habib Koite (Mali), Ishmael Lo, Youssou Ndour, Manu Dibango, Baaba Maal (Senegal), Achieng Abura (Kenya), Saintrick  and Koffi Olomide (Congo). 

She has done a huge amount of session work through the years, working with artists from around the world in greatly diverse styles. Chiwoniso last year released an acoustic solo CD, Timeless, with her group Vibe Culture. 

In 2006, Chiwoniso won second place in the World Music category of the International Songwriting Competition. Out of around 15000 entries from 82 countries throughout the world, two songs from her new album reached the semi-finals - one of which, "Rebel Woman', made it through to the finals and earned her 2nd place.  

Chiwoniso is currently at work with Keith Farquharson on a new studio album. Other prominent Zimbabwean musicians who appear on the album include Louie Mhlanga, Sam Mataure, Adam Chisvo and Ian Hillman.

Ancient Voices (Lusafrica 262772/ USA: Tinder Records, 2000)