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Marimbas and mbiras: That’s the sound of Zimbabwe Music Festival returning to Corvallis
By democratherald.com
Oregon State University is set host the annual Zimbabwean Music Festival, a celebration of Zimbabwean culture over four days of concerts, workshops and community conversations.
It’s not something you want to miss, according to Jaiaen Beck, a marimba player and festival regular.
“Zimfest, as a whole, has so much to offer,” she said.
It all began with Dumisani Maraire, or “Dumi,” a Zimbabwean musician often credited for introducing marimba and mbira music to the Pacific Northwest in the 1990s.
Claire Jones, Zimfest’s cofounder and coordinator, remembers how powerfully Maraire’s music grabbed her when he was a visiting artist at the University of Washington.
“I thought it was the music I’d been waiting for all my life, even though I didn’t know I’d been waiting for something,” she said.
When Maraire returned to Zimbabwe, Jones and others, not wanting the music to stop, launched the inaugural Zimfest in Seattle in 1991.
That music captures a cultural purity for award-winning Afrofusion and Zimfest performer Tsungai Tsikirai.
Tsikirai, who lives in the United Kingdom and grew up in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, remembers hearing that authenticity on trips to rural villages with her grandmother.
That drive brought her to Zimfest in 2018, where she led workshops on choral music.
According to Beck, anyone can walk into a marimba workshop, totally green, and learn to play.
“It’s a very accessible instrument,” she said.
Beck’s traveled up and down the West Coast for Zimfests since the early ’90s, when she was exposed to Zimbabwean music and culture through Maraire.
A few years later, she started Ancient Ways, a nonprofit agency focused on indigenous culture and traditions. Through the organization, she leads weekly marimba classes in the mid-valley region and helps organize humanitarian efforts in Zimbabwe.
Beck calls the marimba a microcosm of life.
“It’s very symbolic of community, because you have all of these players who have to be strong on their part and yet be part of the group and fit nicely,” she said.
Corvallis last hosted the festival in 2011. It’s also the first time since COVID-19 that the festival has returned to full capacity with a full schedule, according to Jones.
Zimfest, which runs Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 3 through 6 at McNary Hall and field at Oregon State University in Corvallis, will feature a packed lineup of musicians and artists from Oregon, Zimbabwe and beyond, including Tsikirai.
Tsikirai, who recorded a short, remote concert for a virtual Zimfest at the height of the pandemic, is excited to arrive in Corvallis next month, in person.
This year, she’ll not only be leading workshops on choral singing and dance therapy, but also on Zimbabwean languages such as Shona and Ndebele.
The music festival, while celebrating ancient instruments including the marimba and providing a venue for artists around the world, also fosters a richer understanding of Zimbabwean culture.
That’s what Tsikirai hopes to emphasize with her language workshops, because it’s not just about the rhythm or the beat.
“We want people to sing things that they understand the meaning of and why those things are sung and when they’re sung,” she said.
The Aug. 3 evening concert and all following afternoon concerts will be free. You can register for Zimfest workshops at the Zimfest website at zimfest.org