Performers Share Zimbabwean Religious Music

Musicians Discuss Spiritual Powers of Mbira Playing

Last Sunday evening, the Cat in the Cream featured two mbira players, Forward Kwenda and Erica Azim, playing songs central to the Shona religion of Zimbabwe. A large gourd containing 22 to 28 metal keys mounted on a hardwood soundboard, the mbira is the medium through which the Shona people contact their ancestors. "You never plan what you're going to play," Azim said, "the spirits suggest it to you."

Each lulling, hypnotic song consisted of one melodic pattern repeated indefinitely. The pieces, Azim explained, have no beginnings or endings. "You can get on at any point in the circle," she said. Indeed, each ending felt abrupt, almost arbitrary, as though Kwenda and Azim could have continued the same melody for hours.

This repetitiousness, however, never grew dull or predictable, for Kwenda and Azim kept introducing new elements into the circle. They took turns chanting, often harmonizing, and incorporated contrasting rhythms. In a sense, these elements were more startling than the bridges and melodic interludes of Western music. Rather than shift the direction of the song, they complicated and expanded the same circular pattern, until a piece became an elaborate juggling act.

Juniors Peter Meredith and Matt Gordon brought Kwenda and Azim to Oberlin, contacting them through Dandematande.com, a web page for mbira enthusiasts. Azim is director of MBIRA, a non-profit organization which aims to educate the public on traditional Shona music and develop a library of recordings. Kwenda plays mbira professionally at Shona religious ceremonies in Zimbabwe.

On Monday evening, in the Afrikan Heritage House, they gave a lecture on the role of mbira in the Shona religion. Azim explained that the Shona people take for granted the notion that spirits co-exist with the living. "Your ancestors are just with you all the time," she said. By playing mbira at ceremonies, musicians encourage spirits to enter the bodies of the living and speak through them. When a possessed "spirit medium" speaks, Azim explained, "you can really hear that it's a completely different person."

To attract ancestors, mbira players try to play in a style that the spirit liked in his or her lifetime. "Your power to bring the spirits," Azim said, "is much more important than how well you play." Kwenda added, "You have to be harmonious with each other and the ancestors can come."

Not all Shona people use mbira. Some use drums to summon the spirits. However, in recent years, mbira has become increasingly popular. Bands have begun playing traditional mbira songs on guitar and other popular instruments, while internationally famous player Thomas Mapfumo has fashioned his own brand of mbira pop.

In the face of "world music" trends, Azim said one of her prime objectives is "to ensure that Shona music activities outside Zimbabwe benefit Zimbabwean musicians and instrument makers." By educating the Oberlin community, Azim and Kwenda have certainly taken a step in that direction