FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Annual Kendall Concert features "The Soul of Mbira"

LEWISTON, Maine --"The Soul of Mbira," a program performed by musicians who lead their own "mbira" ensembles in Zimbabwe, will be presented at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26, in the Olin Arts Concert Hall at Bates College. The public is invited to attend the annual Edith C. and Raymond L. Kendall Concert, and admission is free.

The mbira is an ancient instrument in Zimbabwe with deep roots in the culture of the Shona people, the country's majority group. The featured artists on the tour have joined their talents to represent the Zimbabwe mbira tradition broadly. The group features three different types of mbiras, including dzavadzimu, matepe and karimba, their accompanying styles of song and dance, as well as drums, hosho (gourd rattles), musical bows and antelope trumpets.

The Zimbabwe Group Leaders Mbira Ensemble artists include Hakurotwi Mude of mbira ensemble Mhuri yekwaRwizi, who is also a spirit medium; Beauler Dyoko, known as "Queen of Mbira Music," of The Black Souls; Chaka Chawasarira, leader of the Zengea Children's Mbira Ensemble, as well as school headmaster, mbira maker and church music composer; Cosmas Magaya, mbira teacher and leader of Mhuri yekwaMagaya; Simon Magaya, featured hosho player with Mhuri yekwaMagaya and Shona cultural expert; and Paul Berliner, professor of ethnomusicology, Northwestern University, and mbira player.
Zimbabwe's musicians represent the continent's most accomplished masters of the mbira. Producing complex polyphonic and polyrhythmic patterns, group members interlock different composed parts and vary them in performance, accompanied by the driving gourd rattle beat and drumming.

The mbira represents one of Africa's unique contributions to the world of music. Found throughout Africa and the African diaspora, where it is known by different regional names, it consists of a number of metal or reed keys arranged over a bridge on a hardwood soundboard. Musicians pluck the free ends of the keys to set them ringing, producing a flow of rhythmic patterns with harp-like or marimba-like tones. A buzzing mechanism adds complexity to the pure tones of the keys like the snare on a snare drum. Typically, the mbira's sounds are amplified by a wooden or metal resonator fastened below the soundboard or by securing the soundboard in place within a large gourd resonator.

While mbira music continues to perform a traditional religious role in Shona society today, other practices have grown up around it, including experimentation with merging the mbira sound with elements of Christian liturgy. When Zimbabwe gained its independence during the 1970s, the mbira enjoyed special attention as a symbol of the nation's African pride and nationalist aspirations. At the same time, the instrument emerged in nightclubs, appearing in western-style bands led by popular artists such as Thomas Mapfumo, who blended the mbira with elements of rock and soul. Most recently, the mbira, traditionally a man's instrument, has attracted women artists. Musicians throughout the world have formed communities of interest devoted to its study and performance.

"The Soul of Mbira" represents the eighth annual Kendall concert, made possible by the Edith C. and Raymond L. Kendall '19 Endowment Fund and the Bates College Concert Series. The kendall fund was established by Edith C. and Raymond L. Kendall, retired professor of education and psychology at Bates.

For more information about the concert, call the Olin Arts Center at 207 786-6135.