PROLIFIC mbira player Mudavanhu Magaya says the best way of honing skills is to refine talent and share it with the youthful generations. Magaya has observed that the youth are always focused on employment when they pace up their skills.
In a like manner the youth create stiff competition in persuit of recognition for coming out with the best creative displays. Barely a month after a well-received Mbira Festival at Gwanzura Stadium in Highfield, Harare, Magaya will on October 18 celebrate the fruits of his hard work through a groundbreaking ceremony for the Humwe The Cosmas Magaya Cultural Arts and Education Centre. NewsDay Life & Style caught up with Magaya on his project.
Personal background
Mudavanhu Magaya is a Gwenyambira and teacher of traditional mbira music. I come from a long line of gwenyambiras with my father Cosmas Magaya being my primary teacher. Humwe The Cosmas Magaya Cultural Arts and Education Centre was started by my sister Tsitsi Hantuba who is based in the United States of America and the idea behind the formation of Humwe was to preserve Zimbabwean culture through teaching young children mbira, marimba, dance and ngoma.
It was also formed to preserve our father Cosmas Magaya’s legacy. We are based in Mhondoro Ward 1 under Chief Nherera. We currently have 37 children we are teaching from primary to secondary school. We also pay school fees for the children. They come for lessons every Saturday and we provide two meals for them. We are having our ground breaking ceremony on Friday October 18, 2024 where we are going to build our centre.
Career as a mbira musician
I developed an interest in mbira music from a very young age as I would see my father regularly play the instrument. I started learning from him when I was around four to five years old. I mainly performed with my father in traditional ceremonies in Mhondoro and also at events such as the Harare International Festival of Arts.
How has the mbira music business been received
Mbira music is now reaching a wider audience locally and internationally. This is also helping mbira players to interact with people of different cultures and provide income for them.
Places toured and lessons learnt
In 2023 Kutsinhira Cultural Arts Centre based in Eugene Oregon USA organised a tour of the US as their artist in residency for 2023. I got a chance to visit and share the music at Duke University, University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music and Grinnell College. I also visited mbira playing communities in Seattle, Oregon, Colorado and Whidbey Island. I managed to share the stage in the US with other Zimbabwean teachers at ZimFest 2023 Taffie Matiure, Othnell Mangoma Moyo, Tsungai Tsikirai and Dan Kusaya. The lesson that I learnt is that music is the best gift we can share as it keeps on giving and brings people together regardless of race or cultural barriers.
Current studies at the Midlands State University
I am currently studying towards a bachelors’ degree in Music Business, Musicology and Technology at Midlands State University. I am in my second year. I am enjoying my studies there as I get to learn more of our own culture through studying Ndebele dances and songs as well as dances from other parts of Zimbabwe which are not performed in Mhondoro, my home area. I am also getting an appreciation of recording music and producing it. Quite interesting indeed.
Number of albums produced
I have a couple of recordings that are available online through recordings by Erica Azim.
Recommendations to traditional musicians
I encourage other traditional musicians to take up ethnomusicology so we can share our culture with the outside world.
Closing remarks
Let’s all teach our children about our culture as it defines who we are, where we came from and where we are going.