Rebel Woman, the latest album by Zimbabwe’s Chiwoniso Maraire, is permeated by the soft timbre of the rounded mbira (thumb piano) and the resonant drum-based jit sound. The sound is completed by Chiwoniso’s strident yet melodic vocals that rail at the post-colony and other ills.
The album, as are the two that came before, is proof of Chiwoniso’s aptitude in a variety of genres. That ability was exhibited extravagantly on her debut CD Ancient Voices, the album that brought her to the attention of her compatriots and the world at large.
Although other Zimbabwean folk singers are relatively unknown outside their country, Chiwoniso is one of the few exponents of the mbira who enjoys world acclaim. Rebel Woman, released by US label Cumbancha, has been in the top 20 of the World Music Charts Europe for months now and in December it edged out its rivals for the number one spot. Europe’s World Music Charts are based on monthly polls taken from world music radio programmers in more than 20 European countries.
Chiwoniso’s chart-topping is, in part, because of her ability to meld various Zimbabwean sounds (sungura, jit, tuku music, mbira, Jerusarema and even a little bit of the Congolese rhumba beat) using English and Shona vocals.
She is now based in California, where she was born 32 years ago into an expatriate family steeped in Zimbabwe’s mbira traditions. Her father, Dumisani, taught music at the University of Washington in the late 1960s and was crucial in introducing Zimbabwean music to North America.
Her music, to be sure, has not weaned itself off its ancestors, both spiritual and biological. Chiwoniso uses folk songs (as in the tracks Pamuromo, Gomo, Irobukairo) steeped in the Shona people’s ancient rites.
In an interview she says the title track of the album (Rebel Woman), has been recorded a few times before: “This last version, such a beautiful combination of mbira, acoustic guitar, percussion and voices, is probably my favourite,” she says. The song is inspired by a poem written by a man living on the border of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
“It’s about a woman soldier who comes back from the war to find her home destroyed, her husband gone — probably dead — and has no idea where her children are,” she says.
When she first read the poem Chiwoniso was “struck by the tenderness with which this poet had written about something so painful, and also a subject rarely written about: the woman soldier”. She found its careful rendition by a man astonishing. “It was as if I was standing right there with the woman, feeling her loss. The melody began to compose itself.”
Her music is partly concerned with blotting out the image of the African woman as “the great victim”, especially in the West. This image, a result of decades of media representation, has been ingrained in the West’s popular imagination. “African women are ‘not expected’ to be outspoken, to be powerful, to have complete control over their individual destinies, to be actively involved in the decision-making process in the societies in which they live,” she says.
Yet “all over the world women are dealing with these very issues”. She found being able to sing about a woman soldier particularly liberating and affirming. “My desire is to break through those misconceptions,” she says. She is adamant that “a strong, ‘rebellious’ woman can also be an extremely feminine one”.
This latest album is part of her struggle oeuvre, a point she is keen to emphasise. “I’ve been a rebel towards the system for ages now,” as shown in her song Matsotsi, which censures the corruption in Zimbabwe. But she is quick to point out that her vision extends beyond Zimbabwe. “My rebelliousness isn’t restricted only to what’s happening in Zimbabwe. There are things happening in other parts of the world that are just as insane.” She recently participated in a song featuring 15 other world artists, including Bob Marley’s son, Stephen, and Grammy Award-winning Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo, decrying human rights abuse.
She considers it her role “to bring awareness” on social issues in a way that is accessible to ordinary people and politicians.
“Choose words carefully, especially when you are singing about sensitive issues. At the end of the day I believe that this type of speaking out is a sign of great love. It shows concern.”
Chiwoniso has no problem with “being branded a rebel as well, because my intentions come from the right place”.
Wherever that place may be, her music will make listeners the world over jive along, communing with Zimbabwe’s ancient soul music.