concert: Timbila (Zimbabwe)

TIMBILA. This show celebrates the release of a collaboration years in the making: a double CD by New York Afrodelic roots band TIMBILA, and Zimbabwean mbira maestro Chartwell Dutiro. The release date is May 1, 2017, and the title is Sadza With the Head of a Mouse…  Chartwell has played the Shona mbira (a high-performance prongophone) virtually his entire life. He’s cut a remarkable path through African music from his village childhood in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where he played ceremonies with a local spirit medium, to his years performing and recording with Zimbabwe’s iconic Afropop band Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited, to his more recent career as a teacher, solo artist and bandleader in the U.K.

barbes chartwelldutiro