Chiwoniso Maraire dies chiwoniso maraire dies One of Zimbabwe’s best songbirds, Chiwoniso Maraire has died. Information gathered by Harare News crew says the veteran vocalist, percussionist and mbira player died on Wednesday after a short illness. Details surrounding her death are still sketchy, however, some of her friends and relatives have ‘confirmed’ the sad news on her Facebook wall. Her manager Tsungi Zvobgo has also confirmed her death. She is said to have succumbed to a chest infection. Chiwoniso was born in Olympia, Washington, U.S. on March 5, 1976, the eldest in what would grow to be a family of five. Her late father Dr. Dumisani Maraire taught marimba and mbira in America between 1972 and 1990, while Linda, her late mother, was a soulful singer, dancer and traditional drummer. In 1990, when she was age 15, Chiwoniso’s family relocated back to Zimbabwe, where she went on to enroll as a student at Mutare Girls High School before joining her first musical group, A Peace Of Ebony. P.O.E, whose members came from Zimbabwean, German, American, Russian and Malawian ethnic backgrounds, were a group which redefined the essence of international African rap. Composing their lyrics in English, Shona and French, they used the sounds of the mbira and marimba as the core of most of their revolutionary recordings. Barely three short years later Peace of Ebony was recognized by Alliance Française Harare, and as a result entered the Radio France International contest, “Les Découvertes”, in 1994. The group won the ‘Best New Group out of Southern Africa’ award and were invited to perform in Madagascar, where they were offered a recording contract by the French-based company LusAfrica Sarl. In 1995, Keith Farquharson, who had worked with Chiwoniso on the Peace of Ebony project, introduced her to a Zimbabwean guitarist by the name of Andy Brown. They recorded the album ‘Let The Children Play’, after which Andy Brown returned to South Africa, where he was working from. Four months later Andy came back to Zimbabwe and asked Chiwoniso to join his group, The Storm, and she accepted. The two later got married but their union could not take them to eternity. 1999 saw Chiwoniso leading the Storm at the MASA festival in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where she won the UNESCO Price for Arts. In the same year, she was one of the nominees for the KORA Best Female Vocals of Africa Awards. Andy Brown passed away last year in March last year after succumbing to pneumonia at Parirenyatwa Hospital where he had been admitted.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 20:09:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015