The Principal Examiner in the office of the Controller of Patents and Trademarks under the Ministry of Justice, Cliford Chimombe, lamented that the country is fast losing its mbira experts who are relocating to other countries.
Chimombe said several mbira gurus have abandoned their home after undergoing cultural exchange programmes in western countries. He said instead of the artists making money by selling their unique music and knowledge locally they are exporting cheap human labour. “The mbira music genre is faced with a crisis as the experts continue relocating to foreign countries thereby exporting cheap human labour,” he said.
Various legendary mbira artists such as Stella Chiweshe, now based in Germany, has been on a whirlwind tour around Europe and the late famed mbira master Dumisani Maraire relocated to the US till the time of his death.
It is an undisputable fact that we are loosing our rich legacy of mbira to the Diaspora just the same way we lost our land and identity to the same. I think it is high time we come together as mbira lovers or players to find a way of retarding the rate. There is no way we can completely avoid the migration of certain cultural traits. The way western music has penetrated and superimposed on African music is the same way our music is migrating to foreign countries though for different reasons. Let us think of how best we can repatriate our mbira players and keep them at home. A challenge for us.