The Sunday Mail
Andrew Moyo
THE name Dumisani Maraire may not ring a bell to younger generations of music fans.
Maraire was a master performer of the nyunga nyunga mbira and marimba, teaching music at various universities in the United States in the ‘60s through to the ‘80s, and briefly returning to the motherland in 1982 to develop an Ethnomusicology programme at the University of Zimbabwe.
He is credited for the famous 1-15 number notation used on the nyunga nyunga mbira and for notating the song “Chemutengure”, which is now used to teach mbira learners the technique of playing the instrument.
His knowledge of traditional music was passed on to his children and his daughter, the late Chiwoniso, went on to be regarded as the country’s mbira queen due to her dominance in the genre.
Dumisani Maraire’s contribution to traditional African music is recognised internationally.
Now South African jazz legend, Hugh Masekela, has gone a step further by putting together a mbira album in honour of the great educationist.
Together with Zimbabwe’s Victor Kunonga they put together a group “Shai Shai”, comprising of four talented female artistes.
The group is made up of seasoned musicians that include, Prudence Katomeni-Mbofana, Benita Tarupiwa, Joyce Warikandwa and Rumbidzai Tavaziva, who do not only possess brilliant voices but are also great mbira players.
While Masekela is the executive producer, overseeing every aspect of the project, Kunonga has been taking care of all the studio production. The group has been in the studio since last year and at the moment Masekela is in the country putting final touches on the album.
Masekela features on some of the tracks, add to that, the production prowess of Kunonga and it is definitely something to look forward to. The artistes have already laid down more than 16 tracks with the intention of selecting the best 12 to put on the album.
Some of the confirmed tracks, which Masekela featured on include “Tadzungaira”, “Chiedza” and “Vanotambarara”.
The group has already performed at one of the biggest stages in the region, having shared the stage with Oliver Mtukudzi and Masekela at the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival, which was held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg last year.
Speaking to The Sunday Mail Leisure Victor Kunonga said he was mostly involved in shaping the music as well as coordinating the group.
“This project is not just a tribute to Dumi Maraire, but we are also paying homage to musicians that took mbira music to the world,” said Kunonga.
Kunonga says his relationship with Masekela was born out of respect for each other’s music.
“I was introduced to Hugh after I had just launched my first album, but it was on my recent offering ‘Kwedu’ that he began to pay attention to what I was doing. He was impressed with the album and that is the reason why he decided to make me the producer on this project since ‘Kwedu’ is also mbira-influenced,” explained Kunonga.
He said they were now wrapping up the project with the album set to be launched in April.
“We are almost done and right now we are just putting on the final touches and I think we should be launching the project alongside Hugh’s album, which he has also finished recording and this should be sometime in April.”
During an earlier interview with this publication, Masekela said that the original idea had been to work with Chiwoniso on the project.
“We were going to work with Chiwoniso but unfortunately she passed away so we had to put together four ladies who play mbira and sing as well. We are doing traditional songs with Victor Kunonga on top of the music production and what I can tell you is that these ladies are really amazing,” said Masekela.
The jazz icon seems to be in touch with his traditional roots as he stressed the importance of preserving African heritage through music.
“We are trying to take everything back to our heritage because right now everybody is going helter-skelter with the technology and people are being sucked into other cultures but we want to bring it back home where there is plenty of traditional talent.
“This project was originally inspired by Dumisani Maraire who I met about 45 years ago in Seattle, USA and he was teaching traditional African music,” said Masekela also known as Bra Hugh. He added: “I am really enjoying your traditional music and I think there is something very soulful and spiritual about the traditional music of Zimbabwe that is really moving.”
It seems like Masekela cannot get enough of local music as he has previously worked on numerous projects with the legendary Mtukudzi whom he first met in 1982.
