Stella Chiweshe

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Stella Chiweshe (2012)

Stella Rambisai Chiweshe (also Stella Rambisai Chiweshe Nekati or Stella Nekati Chiweshe ) (born July 8, 1946 in Mujumi, Mhondoro ) is a well-known musician from Zimbabwe .

Live and act

Chiweshe is known internationally as a mbira player and singer. The mbira belongs to the lamellophones and is a traditional Shona instrument . She plays a variant of this instrument that is called mbira dza vadzimu by the Zezuru, an ethnic group belonging to the Shona and has 22 to 28 iron lamellas in two rows. Chiweshe is one of the few women to play this traditional men's instrument used in the bira ritual, a spirit invocation ceremony. She had to push through the mbira game against considerable resistance and is now also recognized as the medium of the Bira ceremony.

The British colonial power banned all cultural activities in the first war of liberation and the church declared the mbira to be the work of the devil. Nevertheless, Chiweshe learned the instrument from 1966 to 1969 and in the early 1970s took part in - now illegal - healing ceremonies where she played mbira . In 1974 she was able to make her first recordings after her formal independence; their debut single Kasahwa achieved gold status . Another 20 singles followed between 1975 and 1978. In the mid-seventies she was recognized as a gifted Maridzambira and no longer only played at ritual healings, weddings and funerals, but also at concerts and parties. After the end of the war of liberation, she joined the National Dance Company in 1981 and toured internationally with this ensemble until 1985.

Since 1984 she has toured solo and since 1987 she has performed with her own group in Europe, North America and Africa. She has also participated in the WOMAD festivals (1994 in the USA, 1995 in Australia and 2006 in Caceres ). She has often surrounded the sound of the mbira with guitars. In 2004 she toured with her daughter, Virginia Mukwesha , who is also a musician. Chiweshe has recorded seven international albums.

She has also organized a women's music festival in Zimbabwe. In 1989 she appeared in the film I Am the Future by Godwin Mawuru , which is about a young woman who travels to the big city to escape the atrocities of the Bush War for independence from Southern Rhodesia . Today Chiweshe lives partly in Harare and partly in Berlin .

Awards

Today she is recognized by her people as Ambuya Chinyakare ("grandmother of traditional music"). The University of Harare awarded her a Master of Arts degree , and in 2005 Stella was awarded two ZIMA prizes.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Chiweshe, Stella
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chiweshe, Stella Ramibisai; Chiweshe Nekati, Stella Rambisai; Nekati Chiweshe, Stella
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Zimbabwean musician and healer
DATE OF BIRTH July 8, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Mujumi, Mhondoro