MAWUNGIRA ENHARIRA

Mawungira means “vibrations”, and nharira means “watch tower”. There are many towers in Norton, the group’s home town.

In their village of Norton, an hour West of Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, Mawungira Enharira members are known for their open rehearsals in which anyone can come and play mbira, hosho, ngoma, dance, or sing with them. It is through these rehearsals that the village of Norton has been able to cultivate young talent that has gone on to form spectacular traditional music bands that have performed in venues across Zimbabwe. The legacy of the older musicians in Mawungira Enharira, and indeed Mbira Dzenharira, the original group from which Mawungira Enharira emerged, can be seen in the younger players who play alongside them and fluidly sing the lyrics as if they were born knowing what to do with the mbira.

The group is as adept at teaching community singing and dancing workshops as they are splitting up and teaching more focused, individual workshops in mbira and hosho. Each member of the group is a gwenyambira (master mbira player) in his own right and in their free time the members of Mawungira Enharira play at traditional ceremonies for their families and communities. Their meteoric rise to the top of the popular music charts in Zimbabwe is a testament to their skill at making traditional music not only more accessible, but socially conscious and highly entertaining.

The members of Mawungira Enharira call each other by their totems as a sign of respect for the spirits that endow each one of them with their musicianship.

Mbira dze Muninga

Gwenyambiras Jacob Mafuleni, Micah Munhemo, Tonderai Ndava and Peacheson Ngoshi, formerly of Mawungira Enharira, have formed Mbira dze Muninga, and will be touring the United States from April 29, 2009 through August 28, 2009

Mbira dze Muninga is a four-piece ensemble that plays traditional mbira music from the Shona people of Zimbabwe. Known as gwenyambiras (master mbira players) in their country to recognize their roles in traditional spiritual ceremonies of the Shona people, these performances have rekindled an interest in traditional music among young urban Zimbabwean more accustomed to Western forms of popular music. You may remember all four of them from their last US tour with Mawungira Enharira.

Click Here to visit their website, dzemuninga.com
 

Buy the CD Now!

Click To Order