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Talent Chimutambgi-Arts Reporter

Mbira music star Mbuya Stella Chiweshe’s body arrived yesterday in her rural home at Masembura in Bindura where she is set to be buried today. 

A memorial service was held yesterday at Nyaradzo Funeral parlour where family spokesperson and daughter Virginia Mukwesha-Hetze revealed that Mbuya Chiweshe’s body would lie in state at the homestead before burial today. 

Mukwesha-Hetze said the farewell would be held in a traditional way unlike the Christian methods which the majority used to. 

“We have just arrived at her rural home in Masembura today (yesterday) where Mbuya Chiweshe will lie in state for the burial tomorrow. Nothing has changed on the programme,” said Mukwesha-Hetze. 

“The farewell will be conducted in a traditional way with playing of drums and Mbira, there is no church service,” she said.

The internationally acclaimed mbira queen Mbuya Chiweshe was accorded a State-assisted funeral after succumbing to cancer of the brain last Friday. 

Born Stella Rambisai Nekati Chiweshe on July 8 1946 in Mujumi Village, Mhondoro, Zimbabwe she was internationally known for her singing and playing of the mbira dzavadzimu, a traditional instrument in Zimbabwe. 

Mbuya Chiweshe was a musician, dancer, actress and also took on other roles.

Mbuya Chiweshe, a princess that played the spiritual instrument of the gods, the mbira is said to be among the legends who predicted their departure after a proverbial call by the God. 

Despite battling cancer, she knew would not live past the month of January, advising her daughters to come back from abroad to be with her. 

Mukwesha-Hetze revealed that she brought the mother back to the country from Germany where she was hospitalised and was advised that the type of her cancer could no longer be treated. 

“I went back to Germany, but she asked for a date when I would be coming back so I told her at the end of January. She refused saying it would be too late. 

“On January 2, I came back since I listened carefully to her words, ‘unenge wanonoka’. It means probably she was feeling something although without directly saying she would be resting,” she said. 

Mukwesha-Hetze described the late mother as focused and someone who wanted discipline among her children. 

“She was a mother who was very strict since she wanted to straighten things up. She was concerned about the upliftment of the women. 

“While growing up I used to play mbira with her, but she has no child whom she said I want to teach you how to play mbira. I did so voluntarily,” she said. Mukwesha-Hetze said even her elder sister struggles to clap hands as the mother would leave her to lead her own life. “Unlike myself, each time I got a chance to grab her mbira I would take them and start playing. Mother then one day asked me if I wanted to play it. She then taught me while I was 11 years old. 

“Her words were that mbira is played by men so if you want to play them be strong enough so that nothing will faze you,” she said. 

Mukwesha-Hetze said being told such words at that tender age and growing up with such a parent moulded her to be whom she is today, being able to stand up for herself and championing women rights.

National Arts Council director Nicholas Moyo said Mbuya Chiweshe had a career spanning over 40 years with various local and international awards, including the Billboard Music Award (1993), NAMA (2006), NAMA Lifetime Achievement Award (2020) and NAMA Legends Awards (2021). 

She performed numerous times in Germany and also participated in the WOMAD festival (1994 in the United States, 1995 in Australia, and 2006 in Spain). In 2004 she toured England with her daughter. 

Mbuya Chiweshe was married to Peter Reich, a German national. 

During the colonial era, Mbuya Chiweshe risked imprisonment performing at “underground” mbira ceremonies.

Her very first single was done in 1974, “Kasahwa” recorded at Teal Record Company, went gold. 

Mbuya Chiweshe trained for stage work for five years from 1981-1985 with the National Dance Company of Zimbabwe.

She integrated marimba with mbira in 1986 — a ground-breaking innovation at the time.

Mbuya Chiweshe is the great grand-daughter of VaMunaka, who was the medium of Tateguru Kaguvi, the resistance fighter beheaded by the British. 

Not only did she fight the colonial mentality that prohibited and discouraged indigenous worship, mbira and spiritual activities to honour ancestors who pass the prayers to our Creator, she also took on gender role reversal by playing the mbira that was mostly played by men those days.