Chiwoniso Maraire spent most of her adolescence in both Zimbabwe and the United States. She was born and raised in Olympia Washington where her famous father Dumisani Maraire lived and taught traditional Shona music between 1972 and 199 and was a renowned stage performer along with her mother Linda Nemarundwe Maraire.
‘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 ‘ remembered Chiwoniso.
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 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 rhythms. 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 lived in a time where the past and the present must work together to move forward. 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. They are many kind of mbiras. The one that I play is called the knuwga-knuwga which means brilliance-brilliance.”
Music had 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 Chiwoniso’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, reggae and rhythms from Zimbabwe.
Chiwoniso fronted her acoustic group Chiwoniso & Vibe Culture for several years. From 21 to 24 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 Kristofferson and Sinead OConnor on the CD celebrating the 1th commemoration of the Nobel Peace Prize Awards composing and performing for the UNDP Africa 215 song project Les Tams-Tams de l’Afrique alongside Salif Keita Habib Koite (Mali) Ismael Lo Youssou Ndour Manu Dibango Baaba Maal (Senegal) Achieng Abura (Kenya) Saintrick and Koffi Olomide (Congo).
She did a huge amount of session work through the years working with artists from around the world in greatly diverse styles. Chiwoniso 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 15 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.
In September 2008 Chiwoniso released her fourth album and first international album in over ten years Rebel Woman on the Cumbancha label.
Chiwoniso died July 24th, 2013.
Discography
A Piece of Ebony: From the Native Tongue (1992)
Ancient Voices (Lusafrica/Tinder, 1998)
Chiwoniso & Vibe Culture: Timeless (2004)
Rebel Woman (Cumbancha, 2008)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
