Stella Chiweshe Ambuya?
LP, 1987

Singer, Mbira, Hosho, Ngoma, Chiwitsa, Chorus: Stella Chiweshe

With THE EARTHQUAKE:
Mbira, Hosho, Chorus: Virginia Mkwesha
Eeprano Marimba, Chorus: Leonard Ngwena
Baritone Marimba, Chorus: Samson Mirazi

Special guests from 3 MUSTAPHAS 3:
Bass Guitar, Chorus: Sabah Habas Mustapha
Drum Kit: Houzam Mustapha

Production: Hijaz Mustapha at Fezco
Executive Production: Peter Reich
Direct Metal Mastered from digital tapes

Photographs: Harry Metcalfe
Front sleeve design: Cornela Claussen
Back sleeve desig: Martin Brown at S.E.E.
Sound recording: Gary Gordon at the Music Factory, Berlin
& © 1987 Piranha Musik
GlobeStyle Records 48-50 Steele Road London NWIO 7AS
File under: WORLD MUSIC Zimbabwe Made In West Germany

Liner notes:
To call upon the spirits at Bira possession rituals is the most significant job performed by mbira musicians in the African culture of Zimbabwe. Through mbira music the souls of ancestors are honoured and made to appear, to give advice and energy to their living family members. Playing for the spirits not only involves the capacity to work for several nights and days in a row but also a particular life style dictated by traditional cultural values. If this was not adhered to, the mbira players would not be able to establish the communications with the spirit.
"The government made it possible for me to be free to play. Before Independence you weren't allowed to play mbira on stage. Before, we were wrapping them up to hide them. Because the missionaries were saying if you do these things, it's Satan's work, it's uncivilized, you will go to hell. So we grew up to think that this was something dirty to do. But because it is spiritual, in the people and in the soil, this strong feeling of wanting to play keeps coming back. This feeling was stronger than their words. It is painful, the pain which can only be healed by playing. No doctor could cure that."
Traditionally only men are encouraged to become mbira musicians, but in spite of the fact that Stella Chiweshe had counted her fingers and found that she had as many fingers as any man to pluck the mbira with, she had to suffer some years before her seriousness impressed an uncle sufficiently and led him to teach her the basic songs of mbira music. "I first learned in 1966, in Harare and Mhondoro. I was taught by my uncle. But he doesn't play any more because his fingers have become stiff. I last saw him in 1974. He was a full-time player, a very old man who just sits at home and plays. He saw I very much wanted to learn. Saw me trying to find someone to teach me. He said come and sit next to me and I will show you how to do it. He was very kind. Other people thought they can't teach a woman to play, because mbira's not a woman's instrument, it's meant to be played only by men. They say if you play mbira you'll not be able to do women's work, you'll always be on the wen's side. lt is very painful to play mbira. Maybe they feel sorry for a woman to do such a painful thing. Women are also not meant to play the drum because it's a man's instrument. If a woman is playing it it shows no respect for tradition. but I play it because I want to. When my uncle showed me how to play I had a burning lump in my chest — a pain like when a close person dies. But when he said 'come learn' the pain started to go and I felt good. It didn't take a long time to learn which keys to play. What takes a long time to learn is how to play for a long time. It is like the wheel goes, round and round. At a ceremony you must be able to play for the whole night. You get blisters on the fingers. But you must care and feel for the music, you must play hard for people to hear because mbira is not amplified."
Once able to master the instrument she was accepted professionally. Since then she works like all other maridzambira, not only for the spirits, but also at weddings, funerals, all kinds of dances, ceremonies, chiefs courts, processions, business inaugurations, political gatherings, parties and concerts. These latter jobs happen mainly in the city and the former mainly in the rural areas.
Her career as a recording artist has given her over 20 singles to her credit, including one — 'Kasahwa' ¬which went gold in Zimbabwe. During her way of life as a mbira musician she was a member of the National Dance Company of Zimbabwe where she played the role of national heroine Mbuya Nehanda using her skills as both actress and dancer. With the company she toured Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. She was special guest cm the first European tour of Thomas Mapfumo enabling her to spread the art of mbira music even further. In Spring 1987 ¬with the lineup on this record — she Look part in the 'Beat! Apartheid' Road Festival throughout West Germany to great acclaim. She is currently working on a film in Zimbabwe that deals with her life and with mbira music.
This album is based upon the rich variety of Stella Chiweshe's experience. She decided to open up mbira music to a wider, international audience by reforming her Earthquake band with the innovative use of marimbas, and by including the bass'n'drum section of polyglobal music partisani 3 Mustaphas 3. Using these instruments alongside the mbira and hosho displays the universal character of mbira music, without losing contact with the lively roots of the Zimbabwean mbira music tradition.
"The heavy sound should help young people to discover their love for mbira . . ." Florian Hetze