THE Mbira concert set for this Friday at the Zimbabwe Germany Society seeks to preserve culture and protect the richness of the mbira instrument, organisers have said.
Multi-talented artist Othnell Mangoma Moyo who is also one of the coordinators of the event told NewsDay Life & Style that the concert seeks to present mbira music and will bring together skilled masters in the craft.
“The concert is a continuation of a project spearheaded by Stefan Franke who collaborated with Kuda Nyaruwabvu and I, supported by the German Foreign Office, to record the repertoire of the Matepe mbira maestro Chaka Callisto Chawasarira. Matepe is an endangered mbira of the Korekore Tavara, Nyungwe and Buja tribes that has less than five living masters [of the instrument],” Moyo said.
He said diverse types of mbira such as Nyunganyunga, Nhare Nyamaropa, Nhare Gandanga, Njari and Matepe will be played at the concert.
“The concert itself is going to be a lecture demonstration to a larger extent. The mbira players mentioned earlier have conducted lectures in universities around the world in the United States and have experience in presenting the instrument together with information about its origins, uses and construction,” Moyo said.
He said the future of mbira music in Zimbabwe remains distorted until people expose themselves to the instrument.
“Exposure can happen through research, reading articles, books and dissertations from scholars, listening to audios and videos, exposing us to mbira music in its traditional context and then finding ways to present it. Internationally, the world looks up to Zimbabweans to take the lead and this will happen when we unapologetically present the rich mbira music that our ancestors left us,” Moyo said.
The concert will have Hope Masike, Forward Kwenda, Jacob Mafuleni, Moyo, Nasibo, Mary Anibal, Taffie Matiure, Abel Mafuleni and a guest from Germany, Leo Batuki.
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In a statement, German embassy head of cultural affairs Katrin Simon said the concert marks the highlight of a cultural preservation project funded by the German Foreign Office and aimed at promoting and supporting the remaining experts in the matepe mbira and its repertoire.
“Last year, Stefan Franke, a German cultural activist, informatician and a mbira student of the late Stella Chiweshe, in partnership with Zimbabwean musician and internationally well-known percussionist Othnell Mangoma Moyo, documented the entire repertoire of 82-year-old Matepe master musician Chaka Chawasarira. Besides creating video lessons, the making of a matepe mbira was filmed and will be made available online soon. The German embassy is happy to present an entertaining performance of Master Chawasarira,” she said.
