Stella Chiweshe
Encyclopedia
Stella Chiweshe is a Zimbabwe
an musician. She is internationally known for her singing and playing of the mbira dzavadzimu
, a traditional instrument of the Shona people
of Zimbabwe. She is one of the few female players of the instrument, which she learned to play from 1966 to 1969 when even fewer females played the instrument.
Chiweshe has performed numerous times in Germany
and has also participated in the WOMAD
festival (1994 in the United States, 1995 in Australia
, and 2006 in Spain
). In 2004 she toured England with her daughter.
In addition to performing as a soloist, Chiweshe often performs in combination with guitars. She has also organized an international women's music festival in Zimbabwe.
In 1989, she starred in I Am the Future, a Godwin Mawuru film about a young woman who travels to the big city to escape Zimbabwe's independence war
in the rural areas.
Led her first workshop with 100 women in Cardiff/South Wales as a teacher, and a European tour with the Earthquake Band same year.
Recording of CD "Tapera" in Zimbabwe with Gramma Records.
Collaboration project with "Bhatagumbo" - a group of senior ladies (55–80 years of age).
Stella created, directed, choreographed and performed a theatre piece "Chiedza (light). Performed in Harare at the HIFA Festival with Bhatagumbo.
Collaboration project with the Dimensions Dance Theatre, Oakland (USA).
Tour in Europe with the Trio, concerts in Budapest, World Music Festival (Hungary), Kalaka Festival (Slovenia), tour in Italy with concerts in Genova, Casale Monferato, Torino, Bologna. Concerts in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. With Bhatagumbo group participation in the "World Senior Theatre-Festival" in Köln/Germany. The piece she created was the main attraction of the festival.
Tour with her band in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
an musician. She is internationally known for her singing and playing of the mbira dzavadzimu
Mbira
In African music, the mbira is a musical instrument that consists of a wooden board to which staggered metal keys have been attached. It is often fitted into a resonator...
, a traditional instrument of the Shona people
Shona people
Shona is the name collectively given to two groups of people in the east and southwest of Zimbabwe, north eastern Botswana and southern Mozambique.-Shona Regional Classification:...
of Zimbabwe. She is one of the few female players of the instrument, which she learned to play from 1966 to 1969 when even fewer females played the instrument.
Chiweshe has performed numerous times in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and has also participated in the WOMAD
World of Music, Arts and Dance
WOMAD is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance.-History:...
festival (1994 in the United States, 1995 in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and 2006 in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
). In 2004 she toured England with her daughter.
In addition to performing as a soloist, Chiweshe often performs in combination with guitars. She has also organized an international women's music festival in Zimbabwe.
In 1989, she starred in I Am the Future, a Godwin Mawuru film about a young woman who travels to the big city to escape Zimbabwe's independence war
Rhodesian Bush War
The Rhodesian Bush War – also known as the Second Chimurenga or the Zimbabwe War of Liberation – was a civil war which took place between July 1964 and December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia...
in the rural areas.
Discography
- Double Check ~ Stella Chiweshe (2006)
- Talking Mbira: Spirits of Liberation ~ Stella Chiweshe (2002)
- Shungu Vol.4 ~ Stella Chiweshe (2000)
- Kumusha Vol.2 ~ Stella Chiweshe (1999)
- Healing Tree: Best of Stella Chiweshe ~ Stella Chiweshe (1998)
- Shungu ~ Stella Chiweshe (1997)
- Kumusha Vol.1 ~ Stella Chiweshe (1995)
- Kumusha ~ Stella Chiweshe (1994)
Trivia
Stella Rambisai Chiweshe learned to play the mbira when it was forbidden for a woman to play the instrument and also the colonial regime had banned any cultural activities.- 1966-1969 study years of mbira dzavadzimu
- 1970-1973 Played in forbidden spiritual ceremonies under the danger of imprisonment through the colonial government before independence 1974, first recordings of her compositions with Teal Record Company of which her first single Kasahwa went gold.
- 1975 - 1978 recorded more than 20 singles with the same company but were never promoted.
- 1979 she started her band the Earthquake after the record company had refused to record Mbira.
- 1981 - 1985 She became a member of the National Dance Company of Zimbabwe as Mbira soloist, actress and dancer. Performed in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. India, China and Korea. She earned great success in a film where she played the role of Ambuya Nehanda - the national heroine of Zimbabwe, who was killed in 1896 by the colonial government.
- 1984 Solo tours in Germany, Great Britain, Italy, India, China, Korea, and concerts with her late brother Elfigio Chiweshe
- 1985 Tour throughout Europe with her daughter Virginia Mukwesha
- 1986 Introduction of marimba for Mbira music and toured Zimbabwe
- 1987 Recording and publication of "Ambuya?" with Piranha Records/Germany; triumphant concert at Hackney Empire/London and the Beat Apartheid Road Festival in Germany with two members of an English band the 3 Mustaphas 3.
- 1988 European tour with the Earthquake Band with shows in East Berlin for the "Festival des Politischen Liedes", West Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg.
- 1989 Publishing of "Ndizvozvo" TV feature "Rambisai - Music of the Ancestors". She is the founder member of the "Mother Earth women’s group in Zimbabwe.
Led her first workshop with 100 women in Cardiff/South Wales as a teacher, and a European tour with the Earthquake Band same year.
- 1990 Publishing of "Chisi" with Piranha records for Europe and Japan, first release of "Ambuya?" for the USA. Her concert at the Heimatklänge-Festival in Berlin/Germany becomes the main act of the Festival. Concerts in Great Britain, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Led a women's workshop in Arhus/Denmark "Body in Soul".
- 1991 First release of "Kumusha"; tour throughout Europe where she shared the stage with Mory Kante, Lucky Dube, Pepe Kalle, Empire Bakuba and John Peel Session.
- 1992-1993 Tour in Greece, Turkey and throughout Europe with the Earthquake band. Led a women's workshop "Unter Wasser Fliegen" in Wuppertal/Germany as a teacher.
- 1994 Publishing of "Shungu"; concerts in Germany and Great Britain. Solo tour in Norway, Finland and Sweden. WOMAD Festival with Peter Gabriel in North America, where she played solo in front of more than 10,000 people.
- 1995 Tour in Europe with concerts in Slovenia, Switzerland, Austria, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Hungary and Germany. Womad Festival in Australia with the "Trio"
- 1996 Tour in Europe with concerts in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Great Britain and Ireland with her mother on percussion and the five musicians of her "Mbira Ensemble".
- 1997 Solo tour in Europe with concerts in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and the Czech Republic.
- 1998 "Global Divas" tour in the USA sharing the stage with Susana Baca (Peru) and Tish Hinojosa (New Mexico) through more than thirty concerts. European tour and a number of radio recordings in the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany with the Trio.
Recording of CD "Tapera" in Zimbabwe with Gramma Records.
Collaboration project with "Bhatagumbo" - a group of senior ladies (55–80 years of age).
Stella created, directed, choreographed and performed a theatre piece "Chiedza (light). Performed in Harare at the HIFA Festival with Bhatagumbo.
- 1999 Magdalena Aotearoa Festival in New Zealand with concerts and workshops in Wellington and Paekakariki, solo. Invited to the "Global Interchange Conference: Artists in Conversation", in New York with support of the Ford Foundation.
Collaboration project with the Dimensions Dance Theatre, Oakland (USA).
Tour in Europe with the Trio, concerts in Budapest, World Music Festival (Hungary), Kalaka Festival (Slovenia), tour in Italy with concerts in Genova, Casale Monferato, Torino, Bologna. Concerts in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. With Bhatagumbo group participation in the "World Senior Theatre-Festival" in Köln/Germany. The piece she created was the main attraction of the festival.
Tour with her band in Zimbabwe.
- 2000 Solo tour in Rome, Sicily/Italy and at the World Music Festival Lahore (Pakistan). Quartet concerts at Expo 2000 Hanover (Germany), Int. Frauenuniversität Hannover (Germany), in Greece. Performed at the HIFA Festival in Zimbabwe with the Earthquake Band.
- 2001 Performed at the FESPAM Festival in Congo/Brazzaville with the Earthquake Band. Tour in Germany and the Netherlands with the Quartet.
- 2002 Publishing of CD "Talking Mbira" CD by Piranha. Tour with the Trio in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium.
- 2003 Performed in North America, Canada, Australia. On the New Year’s Eve she was honoured with a 28 carat gold medal by Jenaguru Festival Company and in August the same year was honoured by the University of Zimbabwe with a Masters in Arts degree.
- 2004 Toured England with three musicians including Virginia Mukwesha her daughter.Performed in New York with Tiga from Haiti (Bonga Music) with his Voodoo drums, solo in California.
- 2005 Performed solo, in Serbia, England, Italy, Zanzibar. Recorded in Zimbabwe “Double-Check” for Piranha Records. Won the Zimbabwe Silver Jubilee Awards (ZIMA Awards) for being the Most Outstanding Contribution in the Music Industry and for being “The Best Female Mbira Player”
- 2006 February Solo concerts in: England, Italy, Germany,. WOMAD festival in Caceres/Spain. National Arts Merits Award (NAMA) for being the most outstanding female artist in the music industry and for being the ambassador of the Zimbabwean culture. Performed with the band (six musicians) in Italy, Austria Portugal festivals and WOMAD Festival in Reading/England. In November solo WOMAD festival in Las Palmas/Canary Islands in Spain and in Zagreb/Croatia.
- 2007 January, February and March shows & rehearsals with band in Zimbabwe. May recording in Ireland. July tour in Canada with the band. Solo shows in Germany and North America.
- 2008. March tour in Italy, Germany with the Trio as well as Solo tour in April in Italy.
Complements
There's a popular belief amongst anthropologists that you must immerse yourself in an unfamiliar world in order to truly understand your own. Facts of life ISMS, http://www.trafford.com/05-2778External links
- Stella Chiweshe official site
- [ Stella Chiweshe discography at Allmusic]
- Lengthy feature about Stella Chiweshe at Fly
- "Stella Chiweshe: Seeking the sound of liberation" (interview by Jennifer Byrne, from RootsWorld)
Listening
- Stella Chiweshe, Live in Studio 4A from National Public Radio Weekend Edition program, Sunday, 19 October 2003