September is mbira month

She is currently touring Europe abroad and has made it her mission to spread the awareness message through the Mbira Centre in the UK, as well as on the social network. Fingaz Weekend’s Francis Mukuzunga (FM) caught up with her from France this week and these are the excerpts:

FM: How did you come up with the idea?
HM: Actually, the Mbira Centre came up with the idea. I am involved because I am the Mbira Centre’s brand advocate. It is a business relationship in which I have the privilege to call the Mbira Centre my “creative home”. You can call it my office when I am at home in Zimbabwe. I am a spokesperson for the Mbira Centre and its cultural and educational objectives. I am their representative when I travel. I see my job as spreading the mbira message within and outside our borders. I consider this role a privilege as I enjoy talking about the mbira, my instrument of choice.
FM: What importance do you attach to the Mbira Month?
HM: The idea of the Mbira Month is to give mbira a national and international platform from which it can be used as a tool for celebrating and sharing the mbira and other aspects of culture with the rest of the world. Mbira is not just the music and the instrument. It is a social institution on its own. It is a vehicle for communicating many aspects of Zimbabwe, the culture and beyond.
During the Mbira Month we will integrate the past with the future, the local with the global. Mbira has to keep abreast and evolve with the changes that are taking place due to its increasing popularity in more and more non Zimbabwean cultures and geographic locations. Albert Chimedza, founder of the Mbira Centre makes great emphasis that the concept is that with the digital age, the power to communicate in the manner we want is now in our hands.
FM: Is this the first time that mbira is being observed in a month, if so why now? 
HM: I believe this is the first time and it is huge congratulations to the Mbira Centre for taking up the initiative.
FM: Why do we need a Mbira Month in Zimbabwe?
HM: Why we need to observe mbira month in Zimbabwe is rather obvious to me. We actually need to have even more “mbira something”. I have travelled a bit during this year and last year and I have had a special opportunity to look at Zimbabwe from the outside and its place in the context of the whole world. We are definitely known mostly for our political developments, stone sculpture and mbira. As I am definitely neither a politician nor a stone sculptor,            To W2
I quite easily connected with people through the mbira. It is a special instrument.   
It has suffered a lot of unfair stigmatisation here at home. It has been abused and misrepresented on many occasions, but it still remains one of our precious heritages. It therefore needs our protection, correct documentation by us, correct forward- movement and the respect it has always deserved. Therefore, Mbira Month!
FM: What will be happening in this month?
HM: The main event is the online mbira exhibition. This exhibition demonstrates that with practically no resources except a phone and a Facebook account you have a voice loud enough to reach many people. The Mbira Centre believes this to be a chance for Zimbabweans the world over to rally their support for their culture, particularly the mbira.
We at the Mbira Centre believe if this exhibition is a success we will be in a position to promote other causes in the arts. There are many possibilities in social media. We only need to see the bigger picture.
More events of the month include the Afrobeat Concert on September 7, 2012. The Mbira Centre shall host this grand premier of a special concert of popular African tunes as performed by a group of talented children and as directed by music teachers Elisha Herema and Theresa Muteta. Then there is definitely my home-coming solo concert on September 27 in Harare where I shall be introducing my new friends I met in Europe. More events will be announced in due course. We are also posting information about other mbira events taking place across the globe during the month of September.
FM:  Do you think a lot of Zimbabweans understand/care about the importance of mbira?
That depends on what you mean by a lot. Intuitively, yes. Practically, perhaps not. However, I believe with more awareness, the appreciation of mbira could grow. I have taught at places where I was allowed to coach marimba, but not mbira because it was believed to be pagan. I have also witnessed a great number of foreign ethnomusicologists taking a special interest in mbira and documenting numerous wealth of our heritage. I went to school when most authorities you could quote where foreigners plus countable Zimbabwean writers like Joyce Jenje-Makwenda and Professor Fred Zindi. What I dream of is a Zimbabwe that has its own internationally acclaimed ethnomusicologist studied in schools too- not one or two, but a descent number of us. Why don’t we appreciate that there is something wrong with not having our own music as part of basic education in school, while we have recorders instead. Wouldn’t it be odd to see a European coming to get their classical piano education down here in Africa? If we are not careful, soon we will be taught mbira outside our borders, soon, the best mbira or marimba making shops will be in America, and we will remain lagging behind even where our heritage is concerned. We have a small community of people who understand why it is important to value our mbira. I would love to see the community grow.
FM: Since you’ve been touring and playing mbira in many parts of the world, what do people say about mbira and Zimbabwean music?
Mbira music is loved. You need to understand that there are many other types of mbira instruments (lamellophones) all across Africa. Of course they go by different names in different countries. The Zimbabwean mbiras, however, have very special interlocking rhythmic designs ‘hochekoche’, special timbre, special history, and a special culture around it. I know many communities that take mbira even more seriously than most of us here. They play mbira all day; eat mbira, breath mbira and some even go as far as taking bute. I have met many foreigners who have been playing mbira for a long time and are now dying to come to Zimbabwe. That’s how much the mbira is loved in some foreign places.
FM: Mbira has evolved since the days of Mbuya Stella Chiweshe, Ephert Mujuru, Dumi Maraire and many others; do you think the old ‘Mbira DzeVadzimu’ concept is dead?
HM: All mbira concepts will never die, at least if we make the effort to keep them alive. Much as I am a strong preacher of the forward-movement of mbira and I love intelligent fusions, I also totally respect the roots. Many young musicians today want to quickly fuse mbira with other instruments and music styles without taking the time to understand mbira. Mbira is not just an instrument. It goes way beyond leaning Nhema Musasa. There are special, secrets hidden somewhere in the struggle of learning all mbira principles, and this doesn’t happen in one day. The ole mbira concepts live on. However, contexts are definitely changing.
FM: How has mbira fused in with music from other parts of the world?
HM: I must say an education in the basics of music comes in handy here. I have listened to many new mbira music like Chikwata 263 and yes, mbira melts well with music from other parts of the world. I had the privilege to work with Norwegian world music/jazz outfit called Monoswezi. Here, music cultures from Norway, Mozambique, Sweden and Zimbabwe met and married well. The music was so warm and beautiful that one of the songs on our album ‘The Village’ (due for release late this year) was taken for a compilation by World Music Network in London. I also recorded two songs with a French Band called Patsyjazz. Here, Mbira met Jazz proper and still, they had a working marriage, still do.
FM: How can urban groovers, or instance, use mbira in their choice of music? (Your advice)
HM: Well, firstly I must admit that I do not understand what type of music you are talking about when you say urban grooves. My confusion is that Roki is called an urban groover, some call Alexio an urban groover still, and I have heard Willom tight being referred to as an urban groover. That leaves me without a clear definition of what we are talking about. I have watched Alexio live and I can confirm that some of his grooves are pure mbira rhythms, Willom Tight as well.
Generally, however, I would say the most important fact to remember, urban groover or not, is that if you lose the basics you are like a tree with roots. When you decide to learn mbira, if you skip basics, yes you will play mbira but you will never play mbira with substance. There are many virtues to correct study.
Also, just because one has included mbira in their arrangement of a song or in their band set up does not make their music mbira music or Zimbabwean even. Lastly, just because mbira is highly symbolic as ‘the Zimbabwean’ instrument does not necessarily mean everyone must strive to have it in their music. There are many ways of remaining Zimbabwean in music without the mbira. Should anyone want to include mbira in their arrangements, it should be for the correct reasons.