Stella Chiweshe

"When I first heard the Sound of the mbira, I wanted to hear more of it everyday.
I got sick and tired of making trips in search of mbira players to play for me to such an extend it caused me to learn the mbira so that i could play for myself. There were no mbira players in Masembura near Bindura where i lived".
Stella Rimbisai Chiweshe

Born 1946 in Mujumhi, a village in Mhondoro Zimbabwe, the woman now known by her people as Ambuya Chinyakare (Grandmother of Traditional Music) has had to struggle hard every step of the way to becoming her true self, the Queen of Mbira. The colonial power, Britain, had banned the mbira. The Church told her that it was the work of the Devil and even her own people told her that it was taboo, an instrument that a woman could never play. Yet by the mid-sixties, she had become recognised as a gifted maridzambira(mbiraplayer), playing at healing ceremonies, funerals, concerts and important parties and her debut single, "Kasahwa", had gone gold.

After Zimbabwean independence in 1980, she was asked to join the National Dance Company (NDC) and toured throughout Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Australia, India, China, Korea and Europe. She left tue NDC in 1985 when requests for her to play solo had expanded. From 1987 she has been on a continual tour of Europe, North America, England, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Serbia, The Czeck Republic, Slovenia, Kroatia, New Zealand to name a few. So far she has recorded 22 local singles and 7 international Albums. She become the first Zimbabwean female mbira player to gain international recognition, been awarded an MA from Harare University in 2003, won two ZIMA Awards in 2005 and healed countless troubled souls.

Press Quotes

Plenty of artists claim to play "trance music," but Zimbabwe's Stella Chiweshe delivers the genuine article. Portions of her repertoire come straight from the religious rituals of the Shona people, and audience members at her concerts have claimed spontaneous healings or visits from spirits in response to the beautiful melodies she coaxes from her mbira "thumb piano." Even if you don't experience supernatural effects, a few moments of Chiweshe's delicate but powerful playing will surely raise your bliss levels by a factor of 10. She pioneered the practice of blending mbiras and marimbas in ensemble performances and is the most famous woman band leader in Zimbabwe. --Bob Tarte, amazon.com

"Imagine a sound somewhere between that of a steel band and a finger trailing the spokes of a slowly spinning bicycle wheel. Amplify. That's the mbira or thumb piano, in Zimbabwe the most important traditional instrument. Scraps of metal are beaten into flattened keys and attached to a wooden framework with or without an additional circular resonator. Chiweshe is an innovator in what was previously a male-dominated genre and has taken it into the context of modern Zimbabwe pop."
Rouge

"Her expert mbira playing is matched only by her pained vocals which are always given a full-throated delivery that achieves an exhilarating intensity. They soothe, comfort, provoke, then bite with the harshness of an acid drop."
Blue Juice

"Stella's repertoire stretches from straight classical pieces to bubbly uptempo jigs. The mbira ripples and chimes like a xylophone, and sounds remarkable galloping alongside shimmering guitars and pulsating drums."
Roots

"Stella Chiweshe continues to be one of the most original and exciting artist on the contemporary Zimbabwean scene."
Folk Roots

Booking

Main Booking
Main Booking
Reich Promotion
Goltzstr. 24
10781 Berlin
Germany

Tel: +49 (0) 30 216 11 29
Handyphones +49 (0)176 491 257 07
+49(0)151 1002 7569
Fax: +49 (0) 30 215 41 80
e-mail: tinaapigano@rocketmail.com
www.stellachiweshe.com

Benelux
Crunch Time Music BV
Mahindra Goercharan
eMail: Mahindra@crunchtime.nl
web: www.crunchtime.nl
T +31 20 471 31 07

UK
Dug Up Music/HEATWAVE
Hope Cooper
tel: +44 (0) 7855 253 457
email: hope@dugupmusic.com