Kasahwa : Early Singles

Description

"I am a rebel," confides the sixty-year-old Stella Chiweshe with a sly smile. Her album, Kasahwa: Early Singles, offers a fascinating introduction to the world of Mbira. The term "Mbira" not only refers to the instrument made of metal tines mounted on a wooden body, but it also designates a genre of music and, more generally, a spiritual way of life still at the heart of Zimbabwean culture. Nothing destined Stella Chiweshe to become the queen of Mbira that she is today. Raised on American rock 'n' roll from Elvis Presley and Jim Reeves, she only begins to take an interest in the traditional music of her country in her teenage years. From then on, and despite the colonists' prohibitions and the reluctance of Mbira players to teach their art to a woman, ...