Tafadzwa Farai of the Great Mbira Sound-an outfit that provided music for the popular local drama Tiriparwendo, is one of the musicians who felt that the road to stardom in the industry was not easy to travel on as the local people look down on their efforts.
"As a professional Mbira player for more than a decade, I have learnt that local people do not appreciate our music like the foreigners do. We can't even afford to record our music because the meagre salaries we get from performing at hotels are not enough to cover our worries," he said.
Farai said they dish out their music at hotel entrances, tourist attraction places and bars where revellers give a few dollars to them as a small token of appreciation for their energy. He also noted that there was need to record their music to preserve it.
Another Mbira outfit which has been in the trade for close to two decades but is yet to release an album of their own is the Nzombe Huru Mbira group. “Nzombe is a family Mbira trademark which has been providing the traditional instruments for more than 10 years now. The outfit is struggling to record the album but we have ready songs which we composed,”said Caxton Nzombe, the band manager.
Veteran Mbira artist, Chiwoniso Maraire encouraged the Mbira musicians to continue living in the spirit of the Mbira music as she described her journey a ‘bizarre’ since she believed that the society viewed Mbira players as poor people.
Post published in: Entertainment