The Queen of Zimbabwean Mbira Music, Stella Chiweshe is the first chart topping female mbira musician and one of the few still in the business after 3 decades. Stella creates warm dance grooves as well as popular songs based on mbira rhythms.
Tickets are $20 for general admission; $15 for museum members.
For tickets and information, please call (760) 438-5996 or order tickets online.
STELLA CHIWESHE
Stella Chiweshe is internationally known for her singing and playing of the mbira dzavadzimu, a traditional instrument of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. She is one of the few female players of the instrument, which she learned to play from 1966 to 1969 when even fewer females played the instrument.
Stella's first single went gold in 1975 and has made 20 more singles that were equally & critically acclaimed. She has released seven internationally successful album; Ndizvozvo Ambuya, 1987, Chisi, 1989, Kumusha, 1991, Shungu, 1994, Talking Mbira, 2003, and Double Check, 2006.
In 1993 she was awarded the Billboard Music Award for performance in the Adult/Alternative/World Music Album of the Year and has been awarded an honorary Masters Degree in Arts by the University of Zimbabwe plus numerous awards.
Since 1983, Stella continues to tour throughout Africa, Europe and the U.S. Her fusion of mbira and contemporary guitar has made her and international figure and Zimbabwe's cultural ambassador.
Chiweshe has performed numerous times in Germany and has also participated in the WOMAD festival (1994 in the United States, 1995 in Australia, and 2006 in Spain). In 2004, she toured England with her daughter.
In 2013 and beyond, she embarks on a much deeper cultural solo tour "Sacred Paths Tour" in which she invokes the beliefs that we are one and we all have cultural roots and serves to unify the underlying tones from the power of her new mbira music. This marks the release of Stella's eighth album, Simudzambira, a much anticipated work of art.
