Dandemutande

Chiwoniso Maraire

Chiwoniso was born in America on March 5, 1976, the eldest in what would grow to be a family of five. Her late father Dr. Dumisani Maraire taught marimba and mbira in America between 1972 and 1990, while Linda, her late mother, was a soulful singer, dancer and traditional drummer.

”I grew up in a musical family and musical instruments were an integral part of my early nurturing as a child. By the age of four I was playing mbira; Tichazomuona, my first recording with my parents, was released when I was nine,” remembers Chiwoniso.

In 1990, when she was age 15, Chiwoniso’s family relocated to Zimbabwe.

She went on to enroll as a student at Mutare Girls High School before joining her first musical group, Peace of Ebony. P.O.E, whose members came from Zimbabwean, German, American, Russian and Malawian ethnic backgrounds, were a group which redefined the essence of international African rap. Composing their lyrics in English, Shona and French, they used the sounds of the mbira and marimba as the core of most of their revolutionary recordings. Barely three short years later Peace of Ebony was recognized by Alliance Française Harare, and as a result entered the Radio France International contest, “Les Découvertes”, in 1994. The group won the ‘Best New Group out of Southern Africa’ award and were invited to perform in Madagascar, where they were offered a recording contract by the French-based company LusAfrica Sarl. The members of P.O.E. were young, though, and after their Madagascar triumph they agreed amicably to stop performing in order to continue their individual scholastic studies.

In 1995, Keith Farquharson, who had worked with Chiwoniso on the Peace of Ebony project, introduced her to a Zimbabwean guitarist by the name of Andy Brown. Andy was recording an album in Keith’s studio and Farquharson invited Chiwoniso to replace a female vocalist who had had to leave Andy’s session at short notice. They recorded the album ‘Let The Children Play’, after which Andy Brown returned to South Africa, where he was working from. Four months later Andy came back to Zimbabwe and asked Chiwoniso to join his group, The Storm, and she accepted. With The Storm they released the albums “Tigere”, “Hondo Yesadza” and “Tongogara”. Chiwoniso also recorded and released her first solo album, “Ancient Voices”, which won critical acclaim globally. It was released under the company of LusAfrica Sarl.

1999 saw Chiwoniso leading the Storm at the MASA festival in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where she won the UNESCO Price for Arts. In the same year, she was one of the nominees for the KORA Best Female Vocals of Africa Awards.

In mid-2001 Chiwoniso pulled out of The Storm to concentrate on a solo career. The musician says it was an important decision for her in that, “....my decision to join The Storm had been to enhance my knowledge of a live band. I wanted to learn more about a group’s relationships and the ways in which a group infuses different sounds according to the atmosphere it is in. I learnt that this kind of understanding, nirvana perhaps, is only achieved if the members of that group are truly connected. There was a moment in The Storm when we peaked and found this connection. It was amazing. After a while though, it was time to move on.”

In the last two years Chiwoniso’s career has continued to grow in leaps and bounds She is now fronting her own band, Vibe Culture, which has quickly become one of the most popular in the Zimbabwean music community. She is also a singer and performer in the multi-national all-women’s band Women’s Voice, whose members hail from Norway, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, America, Israel and Algeria.

In the last year she has recorded the sound-track for the Kenyan-born writer N’gugi wa Mirii’s first short film, worked with the voices of Marie Boine, Kris Kristoffersen and Sinead O’Connor on a CD for world peace in honor of the Nobel Peace Prize Award’s 100th commemoration, represents Zimbabwe as involved artist in the UNDP Africa 2015 project, and just released her new album “Timeless”, completely acoustic, with Vibe Culture.

Chiwoniso says, “Music.....It’s an expression of God. All pain, joy, rage, love....wisdom, can be found in music. I am in awe when in the presence of its power.”