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Born in the US in 1976, Chiwoniso Maraire was daughter to renowned ethnomusicologist Dumisani Maraire, who taught marimba and mbira in the US between 1972 and 1990. Along with her mother, Linda Maraire, Dumisani Maraire was a renowned stage performer. Chiwoniso was the oldest in a family of five.
Her death on 24 July 2013 was a sudden end to the life of one of Zimbabwe’s most revolutionary female musicians.
Had she lived up to this day, the 5th of March 2015, she would have been celebrating her 39th birthday. To celebrate her life’s achievements, Her Zimbabwe has compiled a list of 39 facts about her 37 years of life.
- Popularly known as ‘Chi’, she was born Chiwoniso Maxine Chaapocho Maraire.
- “Growing up we called her ‘Mama Chi’,”says her sister Tawona Maraire Gatson.
- Chiwoniso Maraire lived the first seven years of her life in the United States of America.
- She wanted to be a veterinarian. According to Tawona, their father was always serious about them getting a good education. However, when Chiwoniso met Andy Brown, she started performing more.“Because she was really really good she stopped going to school, but she had always wanted to go back”, said Gatson.
- She started playing mbira at the age of 4.
- At 9, Chiwoniso recorded her first song titled ‘Tichazomuona’.
- By 11 years of age, she was performing with her father, together with brother Ziyanai and sister Tawona in the family marimba group ‘Mhuri yaMaraire’.
- She loved strawberry ice cream as a child.
- She also played in her father’s marimba group, Minanzi III.
- Her career away from her family started in a hip-hop group called ‘A Piece of Ebony’.
- Chiwoniso was A Peace of Ebony’s first female group member.
- Together with her group members, Chiwoniso recorded “From The Native Tongue” in 1992 in Keith Farquhuarson’s studio, with his help in recording.
- In the same year, the A Piece of Ebony worked on a song for the Zimbabwean teenage hit movie ‘More Time’ produced by the Media For Development Trust.
- In 1994, the group, which now had additional members, entered the Radio France International contest, ‘Les Découvertes” with the song ‘Vadzimu’ which won them the ‘Best New Group out of Southern Africa’ award. This led to the group travelling to Madagascar where they performed in Antananarivo at the finals of “Les Decouvertes.”. A Piece of Ebony came third out of the many groups that showcased their art that year; a great achievement as they were also the youngest.
- In 1995, Chiwoniso was invited to be part of a multi-national youth artists’ group called Talent ’95 which was made up of young musicians from Norway, Zimbabwe, Egypt, India and South Africa. Together they travelled to Norway, Egypt and Zimbabwe.
- Chiwoniso also joined Andy Brown and his group ‘The Storm’ in that year, 1995. Together, they released the albums ‘Tigere’, ‘Hondo Yesadza’ and ‘Tongogara’.
- Chiwoniso wanted to stop performing when her first daughter, Chengeto, was born in 1996, but Brown encouraged her to continue
- When Chengeto was 8, Chiwoniso took her into the studio to record her first song titled ‘Girl Child’.
- In 1997, she recorded her first solo album, Ancient Voices, which won her the Radio France International Award for Best New Artist.
- ‘Ancient Voices’ entered the Europe World Music Charts three times and brought her a nomination in the Best Female Vocals of Africa for the KORA Awards in 1999.
- One of the strongest signatures to her work was the ability to flawlessly interweave English and Shona.
- In 1999, Chiwoniso fronted Brown’s ‘The Storm’ at the MASA Festival in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where the band’s performance won them the UNESCO Prize for Arts.
- On 13 December 1999, Chiwoniso gave birth to her second daughter, Chiedza.
- In 2001, Chiwoniso left Andy Brown and ‘The Storm’ to concentrate on her solo career.
- Chiwoniso then concentrated on raising her daughters, Chengeto and Chiedza, but was involved in occasional music projects. One of them included a collaboration with Salif Keita, Habib Koite, Ishmael Lo, Youssou Ndour, Manu Dibango, Baaba Maal, Achieng Abura, Saintrick and Koffi Olomide on the UNDP Africa 2015 song project, ‘Les Tams-Tams de l’Afrique’.
- While fronting the accoustic group, ‘Chiwoniso and Vibe Culture’, she was also a member of the multinational women’s band, ‘Women’s Voice’, between 2001 and 2004, in which she was joined by musicians from Norway, Tanzania, America, Algeria and Israel.
- She returned to her international solo career in 2008 with ‘Rebel Woman’, an African-pop crossover album aimed at the international market. Commenting on that album, she is quoted to have said, “I am like a mirror. I basically sing about what I see happening in the world.”
- She is quoted to have said the song ‘Rebel Woman’ was a tribute to strong women who suffer because they do not follow the restrictions society tries to place on them.
- When Andy Brown died in 2012, Chiwoniso was devastated by his death as he had mentored her in her journey to becoming an internationally-acclaimed artiste.
- In 2012, she contributed to the ‘Women Care’ album recorded alongside women artists from different African countries, and from Norway.
- At the time of her death, she had been recording a new album and there were plans for her to perform in Senegal alongside Baaba Maal.
- When there would be power outages, Chiwoniso would sit up and read books with daughter, Chiedza, by candle light.
- Her favourite TV show was ‘The Game’, an American comedy drama.
- She loved cooking and her favourite foods were chips and popcorn.
- Says Tawona, “She made the best chilli sauces with fresh green chillies and different fruits”.
- Chiwoniso could not drink coffee; her stomach could not tolerate it.
- Chiwoniso loved to meditate.
- After failing at several attempts, Chiwoniso never had a driver’s license.
- Chiwoniso’s last perfomance was with Hope Masike and Ambuya Stella Chiweshe at the Book Cafe. In a tribute compiled in memory of Chiwoniso, Masike described Chiwoniso as an inspiration to other musicians. Chiwoniso contributed to the careers of several musicians including Masike and step-daughter, Ammara Brown.
Many thanks to Tawona Maraire Gatson, Chengeto Brown, Chiedza Brown and Ammara Brown for helping with compiling and verifying this information. The childhood and family photographs of Chiwoniso Maraire in this article are NOT to be republished or used without request to, and express consent from, the Maraire family.
About the author
Daphne is a passionate about women’s and youth rights advocacy. She believes in youths’ participation in important political, economic and social platforms. Daphne is hopeful that someday she will lead a successful information empowerment movement. She blogs at daphnejena@wordpress.com.
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Great great read! Thank you so much for compiling this and honoring a legend’s memory.