Traditional music and dance
There are about as many musical genres in Zimbabwe as there are ethnic groups (about 20). That being said, the territory is largely occupied by the two main ethnic groups of the country: the Shona and the Ndebele.
Among the latter, there is a great vocal tradition, shared with certain ethnic groups in South Africa, theimbube, a male a capella choir. Otherwise, most of the time, the traditional music and dances of Zimbabwe are connected to spirituality. This can be seen in rituals such as the mhande of the Karanga or theiHosana of the Ndebele, ritual dances to invoke the rain. This can be seen in the way that the Creative City concept is understood and applied in the context of the Creative City concept.
The mbira is the emblematic instrument of the country and is the centerpiece of many religious rituals. This thumb piano is composed of metal keys attached to a square wooden block. Depending on the model, it may have a single row of five to eight keys, while others may have more than fifty keys. Among these different formats, the one called nyunga nyunga is the most common.
The mbira is a privileged tool for communicating with the spirits, and is needed, for example, to ask them to bring rain in the event of drought or to stop it in the event of flooding.
The instrument has some big names, such as Mbira DzeNharira, a group that has become a master in the use of the instrument, or Thomas Mapfumo, famous for creating chimurenga music, a genre based on the shona mbira tradition, but played with modern electric instruments and accompanied by committed lyrics.
The other important instrument in the country is the marimba, a xylophone consisting of a wooden frame placed on a series of gourds to amplify the sound and make it lower in pitch.
Traditional dances are still an important part of Zimbabwean society. The two most important and characteristic are Jerusarema and Muchongoyo. The former is a mainstay of Shona culture and is characterized by its polyrhythmic and circular movements, acrobatics and extensive repetition. It is mainly performed during celebrations, such as weddings or funerals. In the latter case, it is important because it is used to bring out the dead and take them to the spirit world.
The Muchongoyo dance is an important part of the Ndau culture. While it is traditionally performed as part of the preparation for war - or afterwards - it can also be used as a military training exercise.
Overall, dance here is a means of expressing spirituality. For example, the Mbira dance, accompanied by the homonymous instrument, is often used to induce spirits to come out, through mediums, and communicate with people. The Dinhe dance also has a religious purpose and is performed to establish communication between spirits and people. Other practices include the Mbakumba dance, which is polyrhythmic and traditionally performed after the harvest, but is now used for entertainment purposes.
The country offers at least two prestigious festivals of traditional music and dance: the Jikinya festival and the Chibuku Neshamwari. The former presents a wide variety of dances and is organized for elementary school while the latter is a major national competition.
Otherwise, animated by a more touristic dimension, folk dance performances are also offered by places like the Victoria Falls Hotel or the Boma restaurant (both in Victoria Falls).
Popular music
If you are looking for the most popular genre in Zimbabwe, you will find sungura. This pillar of national culture is characterized by long, fast-paced, energy-filled songs. Sungura is said to be a marriage between Kanindo (a form of rumba originating in Kenya and Tanzania) and Congolese rumba. The genre emerged in the 1950s, at a time when national identity was being formed, and did not become popular until the early 1980s, led by Ephraim Joe and his band, the Sungura Boys. After their breakup in the following decade, the Khiama Boys emerged as the natural heirs of the Sungura Boys. The bass player of this group, Alick Macheso, would later become a big star in Zimbabwe. First as the king of sungura, a genre in which his influence is still very much felt, and then as a "creator" of dances, such as bhorodhero, which is very successful in the country. Very prolific, he is the author of numerous commercial successes, including Simbaradzo, still the best-selling album in Zimbabwe.
Other popular artists include Chiwoniso Maraire, a U.S.-born Zimbabwean singer (1976-2013), famous for her expertise on the national instrument, the mbira, and more recently, current Afro-beat superstar Jah Prayzah, who often invites Zimbabwean aesthetics, such as the polyrhythmic Mbakumba dance or the mbira, in his hits.
Afro-jazz
Zimbabwean jazz, often referred to as "Afro-jazz," is based on kwela - music from the townships of Johannesburg, infused with American swing and played primarily on the pennywhistle, a small metal recorder - while also being rooted in the local musical tradition. One of the country's best-loved and best-known contemporary artists, Oliver Mtukudzi (1952-2019), has done much to spread Afro-jazz among different generations of musicians, notably by founding the Pakare Paye Centre. But if he was so influential on the different generations of musicians, it is perhaps because this true Zimbabwean legend of Afro-jazz was a composer more committed than one would like to say, some of his hits, for example, directly accused the former regime of Mugabe. Or perhaps it was because many of his songs welcomed traditional Zimbabwean music with open arms, such as Tozeza baba, influenced by Chinyambera and Dinhe sounds. Nevertheless, he remains an icon.
In his orbit, we find today artists like Dudu Manhenga, the Zimbabwean diva, who sings lyrics often engaged in Ndebele on afro jazz rhythms that combine tradition and modernity, Jeys Marabini, and his fusion of afro-jazz and imbube or Victor Kunonga, quite new in the musical landscape but already very appreciated. He is the author of Maidarirei, one of the most popular Afro-jazz songs in the country.
Current music
The big hit of the moment (for a long time) in Zimbabwe is "zimdancehall". A catch-all word made up of "Zimbabwe" and "dancehall", the word unsurprisingly refers to the local version of ragga.
The genre emerged in the 1990s, but did not begin to find real success until 2005 with the first albums of zimdancehall pioneer Winky D. Born Wallace Chirumiko, this colorful character is as much adored for his music as for his belligerent attitude. It's anything but rare that he gets into a feud with one of the big names in the genre like Freeman HKD or Killer T.
