Stella Chiweshe

Stella Chiweshe, The Queen of Mbira, broke new ground by becoming the first artist to successfully combine the mbira with the marimba. She took up the homegrown instrument back in 1964, originally used by Zimbabwe’s Shona people. Chiweshe now alternates her residency in Zimbabwe and Germany, touring the world with her pioneering mastery over her chosen instrument of expression. Mbira isn’t just a musical tool of expression, however, but of transmission as well, functioning as “telephone to the spirits of people, water, trees, stones and birds” to contact deceased ancestors and tribal guardians.