AWARD-winning Mbira musician Mbuya Stella Chiweshe has died.
She passed on this morning at her Kuwadzana home in Harare, relatives have confirmed.
She was born Stella Rambisai Nekati Chiweshe on 8 July 1946 in Mujumi Village, Mhondoro, Zimbabwe.
She was internationally known for her singing and playing of the mbira dzavadzimu, a traditional instrument in Zimbabwe.
She learned to play mbira from 1966 to 1969 when even fewer females played the instrument.
Mbuya Stella Chiweshe 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.
A close relative, Rector Kandemiviri confirmed the death, “She wasn’t feeling much well of late, coupled with age. The last time she came kumusha she was saying her days are almost up and as such, she needed to settle back home.”
Mbuya Chiweshe was married to Peter Reich, a German national.
