Charismatic Zimbabwean master musician Vitalis “Samaita” Botsa creates gorgeous waves of sound with his mbira, connecting the living with the ancestors. “I’m just the car, it’s the spirits doing the driving, making the music,” he says. Visiting from his village in Zimbabwe for duo tour with Erica Azim, Botsa is presenting mbira, an ancient form of sacred music played by the Shona people for over 1,000 years.
Mbira also refers to the musical instrument with metal keys plucked by two thumbs and one forefinger, creating calming yet invigorating polyphony and polyrhythm. Musicians play interlocking parts, and the tradition includes extensive improvisation. Century after century, the mbira instrument and its repertoire of traditional songs have been used in Zimbabwe to heal the sick, and in night-long to week-long ceremonies to summon family ancestors and powerful tribal guardian spirits to earth who help the living. Every time the mbira is played, it is considered a prayer to the ancestors that will result in their protection of the living.