ZIMBABWEAN MBIRA CONCERT: A JOURNEY WITH THE SPIRITS
SATURDAY DECEMBER 1st, 2007


Erica Azim plays a concert of traditional Shona mbira music of Zimbabwe at MUCID (the Mahea Uchiyama Center for International Dance), 729 Heinz Ave in Berkeley, at 8 pm Saturday, December 1st.

The metal keys of the mbira, plucked with two thumbs and one forefinger, create relaxing yet invigorating polyphony and polyrhythms. For over a thousand years, the mbira instrument and its repertoire of classic songs have been used in Zimbabwe to call family ancestors and powerful tribal guardian spirits to earth to help the living, in night-long to week-long ceremonies. Every time the mbira is played, it is considered a prayer to the ancestors, which will result in their protection of the living.

Erica Azim is the foremost mbira performer and recording artist in the U.S. She specializes in a meditative mbira style used for healing, as played on her CDs “Mbira Dreams” and “Mbira: Healing Music of Zimbabwe”.

Admission is $15 at the door. For more information, call (510) 548-6053.

The concert is co-sponsored by the non-profit organization MBIRA (www.mbira.org) and MUCID (www.mahea.com). MBIRA is a non-profit organization supporting 135 traditional musicians in Zimbabwe; CDs of these artists will be available at the show.