Benita Tarupiwa
Benita was born in 1971 in Mhondoro, Zimbabwe and today lives in one of the so-called "high density suburbs" of Harare. She started playing mbira when she was four years old. As a young girl Benita would play at Shona ceremonies ('bira'), then in 1987 she was hired to play for an old people's group where her talents were very much recognized. This experience then led to a series of competitions throughout Zimbabwe. She finished 1st place in each one of these. Benita then joined a group called Vanhu Vamwe, whom she played with until the end of 1989. At this time Benita took time off from performing and focused on her school work, until 1991 when she joined a group called Vanganga. She played with this group until the middle of 1992 when she left and began playing with Sekuru Gora. Benita played with Sekuru until 1994 when she began to play with Beauler Dyoko. For one year Benita left playing with Beauler to perform with Mazana Movement. In 1996 Benita returned to playing with Beauler & The Black Souls and toured with her to Mozambique and Holland. On returning to Zimbabwe Benita concentrated on her own group called Negombwe Mbira Group.
In January 1997 she went to Switzerland by herself and ended up doing a solo recording which resulted in the release of her titled Ndotamba Ndega. It was not Benita's intention to record without her band, but at that time the recording opportunity came up and she was not able to fly her band over from Zimbabwe to Switzerland. In the beginning of May 1997 Negombwe Mbira Group finished 1st place in a competition of 22 regional groups in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe (Music Crossroads). From the 12th to the 29th of May Benita took part in the "Zimbabwe Music Festival 1997" in Victoria BC (Canada) and in the "Folklife"- Festival in Seattle (USA).
In 1998 Benita came to be on tour in Europe together with her own group called Negombwe Mbira Group. They played at some very famous places and festivals, e.g. at "Afropfingsten" (Winterthur), at "Equatoriales" (Geneva) and at "Festate" (Chiasso) in Switzerland and at "L'APPEL DE L'AFRIQUE" (Besancon) in France. On this tour we recorded her "shirikadzi", which is a live-recording of one of the concerts.
Negombwe Mbira Group
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| Negombwe Mbira Group is a professional music group from Harare, Zimbabwe. Under the guidance of Benita Tarupiwa, who is a well-known female mbira player, the group is performing traditional music and dance from Zimbabwe. The members of the group are outstanding performers on stage and they all have their own artistic career with stage experiences both in Zimbabwe and abroad.
As in many other african countries, life in Zimbabwe is very hard and people's daily's struggles are out of imagination to most of us who live in the western world. The sad phenomenon of constant change, or more tragically, loss of group members is typical of Zimbabwe. We have lost our good friend and gifted "gwenyambira" Lovette Mapuranga Paradzai, he passed away after a heavy illness. We miss his strong sense of humour and his smile. May his spirit lay in peace! |
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The music consists of two to three mbira, hosho ('rattles'), singing, and dancing. The group's repertoire ranges from traditional Zimbabwean mbira songs to new and self-composed songs and their approach to compose and arrange songs and dancing attracts attention. |
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 The mbira |
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| It is very creative, what might be one of the reasons why they get high appreciation by both local and foreign audiences. |
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Zimbabwean mbira music is characterized by its intense, joyful spirituality, its complex rhythms and beautifully arranged melodies. Both the music and the dance are profoundly reflecting the Shona culture from Zimbabwe. As the Shona people are deeply connected to their ancestors, they believe that any disaster is being caused by the ancestors. Gombwe is one of the most important spirits to the Shona people. If there is drought and famine, the Gombwe or rain-maker is being consulted. This spirit is highly respected because it is deemed to be in charge of rain and drought, heat and cold. "Negombwe" literally means "belonging to or associated with the spirit of the rain-maker". |
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ethnic posse
the band named ethnic posse was formed in 1988 by andrew mamvura and ian bakke after a long period of learning to play mbira. slowly the two guys developed a style of playing the instrument. they started composing songs from some old traditional folk songs and contemporary then. it was after this idea that the two thought of playing the mbira as a musical instrument rather than a "traditional zimbabwean instrument". in other words ethnic posse believe that mbira (or "nhare") is just as good as any other instrument and should be played any way without restraint. when they were working on their songs they met their friend kennedy mwanza, a multi-instrumentalist who listened to some of the songs and came in with guitar accompaniment and songs of all flavours were played then on. later they incorporated another new member, christopher kamowa.
is their first album which clearly demonstrates that "nhare" is an instrument you can play in any form of music. all the songs were composed on mbira.
contact ethnic posse: andrew mamvura, hse no. 6416, 132 street, kuwadzana 5, harare / zimbabwe (phone: +263-4-211857)
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