Music
Landmark
Chiwoniso Maraire
1976 – 2013
Took up the mbira, which women were not supposed to play, and took it worldwide
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Zimbabwe Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
She mastered an instrument tradition reserved for men, fused it with hip-hop at fifteen, and spent her last album saying out loud what Zimbabwe was doing to its people.
Chiwoniso Maraire was born on 5 March 1976, the daughter of the mbira master and teacher Dumisani Maraire, and became a singer, songwriter and mbira player in her own right — breaking an old taboo by taking up an instrument traditionally reserved for men.
At fifteen she was part of the Afro-fusion hip-hop trio A Peace of Ebony, perhaps the first group to set mbira against contemporary beats. Her 1998 debut Ancient Voices found audiences across Europe and America, and her last album, Rebel Woman (2008), took on inequality, political repression and human rights in Zimbabwe. She died of pneumonia near Harare on 24 July 2013, aged thirty-seven.
At fifteen she was part of the Afro-fusion hip-hop trio A Peace of Ebony, perhaps the first group to set mbira against contemporary beats. Her 1998 debut Ancient Voices found audiences across Europe and America, and her last album, Rebel Woman (2008), took on inequality, political repression and human rights in Zimbabwe. She died of pneumonia near Harare on 24 July 2013, aged thirty-seven.
- Wikipedia — Chiwoniso Maraire
- Putumayo — Chiwoniso (Zimbabwe)
- Malay Mail — Top Zimbabwean musician Chiwoniso dies
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