MBIRAVOLUTION, a community of mbira players, lovers and researchers will tomorrow launch a music exhibition titled Let the Instrument Speak at the Book Café.
TINASHE SIBANDA
The exhibition seeks to give music instruments an opportunity to “tell their own story” about the meaningful and positive contribution they have made in the world of arts. The exhibition will mainly focus on mbira although it would incorporate other traditional and contemporary instruments.
Event organiser, Extra-Blessings Kuchera, said the exhibition would incorporate more instruments in future.
“This event is set to grow as it will incorporate new and more exciting elements in future editions and hopefully, it will be appreciated at even prestigious exhibitions in Africa and beyond,” he said. Mbira is one of the most unique instruments to Zimbabwe and is played in religious, commercial and entertainment contexts.
Kuchera said the event would be one of the ways of giving the instrument the exposure it deserves so that people understand its relevance within our mainstream cultural heritage.
“The exhibition will also look at world music cultures through exhibiting instruments of other nations and giving them an opportunity to tell stories from their countries.” Kuchera said the exhibition has already been invited to Zambia where it runs on November 16 at the famous Café Zambezi in Livingstone.
It will also make a stop-over in Bulawayo at the USPAS American Corner on November 14. The city’s visual artists are expected to interact with Mbiravolution community during the stop-over.
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The Harare, Bulawayo and Livingstone exhibitions will be spiced with poetry and mbira performances by renowned artists.
There will be a visual interpretation of poetry and mbira by visual artists.
“Hector ‘Hectic’ Mugani, who plays for Chikwata 263, a mbira rock band, will do the mbira performance while poetry will be done by Arnold ‘So Profound’ Chirimika who is the current National Poetry Slam Champion.
“The live visual interpretation of the mbira and poetry performances will be done by an artist called Nyami who has been involved in Zimbabwean visual artwork for a long time,” said Kuchera. He added that the exhibition would be done in a very unique manner and would give a strong visual impact to the sound of the instruments.
