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Despite being only 33, Chiwoniso Maraire from Zimbabwe has been a musician for a very long time. And this is why: During the seventies, her parents moved to the US, where her father got a degree in ethnomusicology at the Washington University in Seattle. He was a musician himself, a very experienced mbira player. The Mbira is a kind of thumb piano, and is a musical symbol for Zimbabwe. Chiwoniso’s mother was a singer, so when she was born in ’76, she was born into a very musical environment. From the age of four, she started practicing the mbira. But is was not only the African music she had in her. Living in the US, she got acquainted with soul, funk, rock and classical. Making her first recordings aged nine, at eleven she was allowed to become a member of the family orchestra Mhuri yaMaraire. At the age of 14, she and her parents moved back to Zimbabwe, where she quickly blended in with the local musical scene as the singer of A Peace of Ebony, the first hiphop act of Zimbabwe. In’97 Chiwoniso’s first solo album Ancient Voices was released, a remarkable album that yielded her a ‘best new artist’ award from Radio France International. Her solo albums did not succeed each other at a high tempo, but being the mother of two, that’s perfectly understandable. But her third album Rebel Woman, released in 2008 lead to an international breakthrough and two number one hits in the monthly European World Music Charts (which is put together by radio DJ’s from 23 countries). And now she’s touring the world successfully. Shortly after her Belgian concert, she’ll be headed for Japan.
The title of the album ‘Rebel Woman’ explains a lot. Chiwoniso has the guts to sing about the problems that Zimbabwe is facing, an attitude that already caused her a lot of trouble. But she refuses to shut up. As a result of her boldness, she was forced to move back to the US, but she swore to return as soon as Mugabe is put out of office…

THE HELDENPARK IS LOCATED IN THE OOSTVELDSTRAAT IN EEKLO, EAST-FLANDERS, BELGIUM. DRIVING DIRECTIONS CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM THE CONTACT PAGE ON THIS WEBSITE.