Solomon Murungu & Zambuko Projects Unlimited present
Zimbabwe's Queen of Mbira
STELLA CHIWESHE
Friday, February 21st, 8pm, First Church in Cambridge - Congregational

Boston, MA - Solomon Murungu & Zambuko Projects Unlimited present Zimbabwe's Queen of 
Mbira, Stella Chiweshe on Friday, February 21st, 8pm, First Church in Cambridge 
Congregational, 11 Garden Street, in Harvard  Square, Cambridge. Tickets are $18 and 
$23 and are available at Planet Aid locations (617.354.6413 & 617.262.9337) and A Taste of 
Culture (617.868.0389) in Cambridge. To charge tickets call The Center for Arts in Natick, 
508.647-0097. For information call 508-270-2771 or visit http://www.zambuko.com

Stella Chiweshe, the undisputed queen of mbira, will make a rare appearance in her first solo 
performance debut in Boston. Exalting songs of personal and spiritual liberation, in a 
hauntingly delicate voice, Chiweshe traverses the valleys of mourning, loss and despair to the 
hills of triumphant spiritual liberation. Playing the millenium old mbira, Zimbabwe's 
indigenous instrument used to summon spirits and spiritual guardians, Chiweshe's masterful
playing, her immense and regal stage presence, her deep spiritual intimacy provides her 
audience with a transformative experience of a spiritual dimension.

Refusing to be relegated to an mbira spectator, Chiweshe was driven from within to convince 
her uncles and grandparents to teach her how to play the mbira. Not only did she fight the 
colonial mentality that prohibited indigenous worship, mbira playing and any activity that 
honors ancestors, but she also had to break a gender barrier that accorded the mbira playing 
privilege to men only.  After two years to persuading her uncles to teach her without success, 
Stella finally got instruction from one of her uncles. That was in 1966 and by 1975, she had 20 
singles to her credit. Her most popular single, Kasahwa, when gold in 1975.

After Zimbabwe independence in 1980, Chiweshe participated in the National 
Dance Company of Zimbabwe a choreographer, dancer, musician and many other 
roles. However her most prominent role has been pioneering roles traditionally 
reserved for men and thereby empowering women to bring their artistic abilities 
on the national stage. 

In another important milestone, Chiweshe experiemented and successfully integrated 
marimba music with mbira, a groundbreaking event in the development of Shona music. In 
those experimental days, her critics suggested she was dishonoring the mbira tradition, 
however the very act of integration the two instruments, one more popular with young people 
and the other very traditional, Chiweshe was able to persuade young people to listen to mbira 
music more than they did before. At a time when the Zimbabwean youth where totally 
disoriented from years on colonial and religious disinformation, the integration of marimba 
with mbira brought a lot of young people closer to their heritage.

After seven albums, her latest recording, "Talking Mbira-Spirits of Liberation",Chiweshe 
demonstrates her versatility from hauntingly powerful songs like "Musandifungise" to high 
energy marimba/mbira combinations like "Manja". 

The Mbira is instrument of between 22 and 28 metal keys mounted on a wooden soundboard 
that has been used by the Shona people of Zimbabwe for more than a thousand years to call 
upon their ancestors and spiritual gaurdians for advice, blessings and protection.

Stella Chiweshe's mastery of this indigenous instrument and music, her experience,depth and 
honor as a spirit medium, not only anchors her role firmly in the Shona mbira traditions, but 
makes her one of the most important ambassadors of the music and the culture it supports.  
Her first Boston solo appearance will be a memorable event.