Chiwoniso

“Music...It’s an expression of God. All pain, joy, rage, love..wisdom, can be found in music. I am in awe when in the presence of its power.”
C. Maraire
Chiwoniso Maraire was born in Olympia, Washington in 1976. Her father, ethnomusicologist Dumisani Maraire, taught marimba and mbira in America between 1972 and 1990, and was a renowned stage performer along with her mother, Linda Nemarundwe Maraire. "Musical instruments were a core element of my childhood. By the age of four I was playing mbira; Tichazomuona, my first recording with my parents, was released when I was nine" remembers Chiwoniso.
In 1991 Chiwoniso met two young hip-hop artists Herbert Schwamborn (actually performing as Metaphysics) and Tony Chihota, and formed Zimbabwe's first Afro hip-hop group A Peace of Ebony. They recorded an album From The Native Tongue in 1992.
In 1994, Peace Of Ebony won the the Best New Group out of Southern Africa award in the Radio France International Discovery contest. P.O.E.s entry Vadzimu, a song they composed specifically for the competition, was a potent mixture of the Shona, English and French languages riding over a heavy mbira-laced hip-hop rhythm.
In 1998, Chiwoniso won the Radio France International Discovery Competition in her own capacity and signed a contract with LusAfrica, resulting in her first CD Ancient Voices, recorded and produced by Keith Farquharson.Ancient Voices was a tremendous success and brought critical acclaim to this talented young Zimbabwean mbira player. Of note was Chiwonisos ability to flawlessly interweave English and Shona, an ability that has become a strong signature in her work.
In 1999 Chiwoniso fronted the members of The Storm at the MASA festival in Abidjan, Cte dIvoire, where the bands performance won them the U.N.E.S.C.O. Prize for Arts. In the same year, she was a nominee in the Best Female Vocals of Africa category of the KORA Awards. In 2001 Chiwoniso left Andy Brown & The Storm to concentrate on her solo career.
CHIWONISO & VIBE CULTURE Chiwoniso has been fronting her acoustic group Chiwoniso & Vibe Culture for several years. From 2001 to 2004, she was also a core member of the multinational all-womens band Womens Voice, whose original members hailed from Norway, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, America, Israel and Algeria.Her musical collaborations have included recording with Marie Boine, Brilliant, Kris Kristoffersen and Sinead OConnor on the CD celebrating the 100th commemoration of the Nobel Peace Prize Awards, composing and performing for the UNDP Africa 2015 song project Les Tams-Tams de lAfrique alongside Salif Keita, Habib Koite (Mali), Ishmael Lo, Youssou Ndour, Manu Dibango, Baaba Maal (Senegal), Achieng Abura (Kenya), Saintrick and Koffi Olomide(Congo).
She has done a huge amount of session work through the years, working with artists from around the world in greatly diverse styles. Chiwoniso last year released an acoustic solo CD, Timeless, with her group Vibe Culture.
In 2006, Chiwoniso won second place in the World Music category of the International Songwriting Competition. Out of around 15000 entries from 82 countries throughout the world, two songs from her new album reached the semi-finals - one of which, "Rebel Woman'', made it through to the finals and earned her 2nd place.
Chiwoniso is currently at work with Keith Farquharson on a new studio album and just registered her own artist promotion agency: Iwé Productions .