Artists
who's who and who's doing what?Stella Chiweshe
Line up
- Stella Chiweshe (Mbira)
- country:Zimbabwe
- region:Southern Africa
- style(s):Roots Tribal
- label:
- type:Solist, Composer/Songwriter
- gender:female
- instrumentation:instrumental, vocal
- artist submitted by:
"When I first listened to the mbira sound, I wanted to hear more and more. I could not stop it, I was sick until I learned to play, so I could hear these sounds."
- Stella Rimisai Chiweshe
Born 1946 in Mujumhi, a village in Mhondoro Zimbabwe, the woman now known by her people as Ambuya Chinyakare (Grandmother of Traditional Music) has had to struggle hard every step of the way to becoming her true self, the Queen of Mbira. The colonial power, Britain, had banned the mbira. The Church told her that it was the work of the Devil and even her own people told her that it was taboo, an instrument that a woman could never play. Yet by the mid-sixties, she had become recognised as a gifted maridzambira, playing at healing ceremonies, weddings, funerals, concerts and parties and her debut single, "Kasahwa", had gone gold. After Zimbabwean independence in 1980, she joined the National Dance Company and toured throughout Zimbabwe, Mozambique and then Australia, India, North Korea and Europe. Since 1987 she has been on a continual tour of Europe, North America and Zimbabwe. So far she has recorded 22 local singles and 7 international albums, become the first Zimbabwean female mbira player to gain international recognition, been awarded an MA from Harare University, won two ZIMA Awards in 2005 and healed countless troubled souls.
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