Talk and Performance: Mhoze Chikowero and Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa On the Mbira

This two-part program showcases the work of award-winning UC Santa Barbara historian and previous CIHA Blog contributor, Mhoze Chikowero, and Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa, a doctoral student at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. Chikowero discusses the postcolonial politics of the mbira, and its survival in light of crusades by colonizing forces that sought to harness and subvert it. This story of resilience signifies the instrument’s key place in the cosmologies of the Zimbabwe cultures, which wielded it to resist missionary evangelization, and to inspire the armed struggle for self-liberation. In spite of the transgenerational traumas of colonialism, generations of performers have maintained and passed on the art, knowledge, and spiritualities the mbirarepresents. Tawengwa, who has explored new sonic realms with this ancient instrument, will perform a live mbira concert in the museum’s Davis Courtyard.

About the Exhibition
Striking Iron is a major international traveling exhibition that reveals the history of invention and technical sophistication that led African blacksmiths to transform one of Earth’s most basic natural resources into objects of life-changing utility, empowerment, and astonishing artistry.

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