MULTI-TALENTED Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa is an artist of many talents. The grand daughter of the legendary George Chirume Tawengwa – Zimbabwe’s first black millionaire – is a composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and scholar.
Tanyaradzwa can move seamlessly between classical Zimbabwean music and Western classical music. The Daily on Sunday’s Dakarai Mashava recently spoke to holder of a doctorate in music ine on how she bridges Western classical music and what she prefers to call Chivanhu classical music. Below are excerpts of the interview:
QUESTION(Q):You are many things rolled into one: gwenyambira, scholar, community organiser, composer and singer. Can you share with us how you manage to execute all these demanding roles?
ANSWER (A): Everything I do is fuelled by a deep conviction. I believe that the work I do is my life’s purpose. That means I am determined and committed to using my gifts and living out my life’s purpose. My work as an artist, scholar and leader, ties into a single overarching mandate: to serve my global Zimbabwean community so that we can heal, and thrive. So for me, I see my work as simply one thing, and I use all of the gifts I have been given to serve that one purpose.
Q: The moment the name Tawengwa is mentioned it brings to mind the late George Tawengwa- Zimbabwe’s first Black millionaire. How are you related to him?
A: George Tawengwa is my paternal grandfather, my father’s father.
Q: As your late grandfather made a mark in business, how do you explain your career choices?
A:My grandfather was prolific. For those who do not know, his journey was literally from being a shepherd to a multi-millionaire. And he achieved all of this before Zimbabwe’s independence. I always tell myself that if my grandfather was able to achieve such amazing successes on behalf of our family and community under the oppressive Rhodesian regime, what more of me, a Born Free, with every opportunity at her fingertips? Sekuru George set a high bar, and I hold myself to that bar, and more.
Sekuru George had visions beyond his time, and executed them diligently with discipline and strong resolve. I uphold those same virtues in my life. I am very disciplined, and have been diligently working on my purpose and visions, consistently, for over a decade.
That means that I have been practising the piano everyday since I was eight years old, singing consistently since I was three and have dedicated myself to being a lifelong learner. Chokwadi vakuru vanoti kudzidza hakuperi.
In terms of explaining my career choices, I never think of my work as a career, I am here to serve my life’s purpose. Careers change, one’s life purpose does not. My grandfather had a purpose that was presented to him as a divine calling. His biography is quite magical, and my brother – writer and scholar Tau Tawengwa-is currently researching and writing the biography of Sekuru’s life.
In some ways, my life parallels Sekuru George’s story. When I was 14, a spiritual leader came to me and spoke words over my life that I hold closely to my heart. I don’t share those words, because they are mine alone to hold, but what I know is that I am walking a path that is much bigger than me, in the same way that my grandfather walked a path much bigger than himself. Those words keep me going on days that feel extremely challenging.
Q: Is there a history of music in the Tawengwa ancestry which could have inspired you to take this route?
A: Music actually comes from my maternal lineage. My grandmother, Soneni Mbofana née Melusi, was a phenomenal singer in the Highfield Methodist Church Choir. My great-grand father, John Wafa Melusi, was an evangelist, and his wife and eight children (my grandmother included) would travel across the region, singing hymns for his sermon.
I’ve also been told that my paternal grandmother Mabel Tawengwa née Gwanzura loved to sing as well.
Q:How do you explain the fact that you are fiercely protective of the mbira and African music traditions yet you have taken time to study Western classical music at the highest level?
A: I am expansive, because my story is expansive. My mastery of both Western classical music, and Zimbabwean classical music (which is what mbira music is), mirrors the story of our nation. We are a nation whose education system is still deeply steeped in European educational philosophies – a pervasive remnant of European settler colonialist and European Christian missionary proselytisim. Though Born Free, I am a product of this Euro-centered, Zimbabwean education I received at the Dominican Convent in Harare. It is there that I learned to play the classical piano and cello as well as to sing opera.
At the same time, Gogo vangu vaiveSvikiro. Mbira is a part of my family’s spiritual grounding, and I would experience the power of this music at the bira ceremonies we held at our home.
I hold both, because that is my story.
That said, I would like to challenge some of the beliefs people hold about Western classical music. Music history teaches us that the history of instruments people associate with being European, has its roots in African musical technologies. Music history has also documented African composers of so-called “Western” classical music from as early as the 1700s. Why do we not know of this? Well, history is always written with an agenda and one of the greatest agendas of Eurpoean settler colonialism was to depict us Africans as having no history, and no culture. But we do. And some of the cultural pillars Europeans claim to be theirs, are actually ours – we were just erased from the narrative.
Q: What are you doing to promote African music traditions?
A: Chokwadi vakuru vanoti ziva kwawakabva kwaunoenda usiku. Vakuru vanotidzidzisa zvakare kuti kuziva mbuya huudzwa.
These two proverbs inform my work. First, we as indigenous need to know the African-authored history of ourselves. Unfortunately, the 90-year colonial setter period caused so much damage to our understanding of self, and we are still reeling from the effects of that, even today.
Second, we as culture bearers, educators, artists, academics and intellectuals, need to ensure that we are intentionally teaching future generations of Zimbabweans about our history.
With that in mind, my all of my work serves to honour the wisdom in these proverbs.
As a singer and composer I centre our ChiVanhu music forms, styles, harmonies, rhythms and melodies in all I do. As a scholar and culture bearer, I centre indigenous Zimbabwean intellectual thought in my writings with Stanlake Samkange being my favourite Zimbabwean intellectual. We should all be reading and studying his works as a nation. As an educator I am intentional about building curricula that centre our indigenous knowledge systems . My work as founder and CEO of Zimbabwe KIDS Summer Camp embodies this. As a healer, I am always studying. I hold a doctorate in music, and I firmly believe that “Kudzidza hakuperi.” I am currently apprecinticing with Kelvin Chale, a registered herbalist in my ancestral home of Marondera. I spend months with him in the forests, studying our indigenous healing plants. I also apprentice with Irene Chigamba for mbira and dance
Q: As a scholar and academic, what have you achieved?
A: I hold a Doctorate of Music in Voice Performance, a Master of Music in Voice Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Music Composition (cum laude) with minors in Voice Performance and French.
I did my undergraduate studies at Princeton University, an Ivy League university in New Jersey, USA; and my graduate studies at the University of Kentucky, in Kentucky, USA. And at both institutions, I was the first Zimbabwean in history to graduate with degrees in music.
I recently returned to Princeton University where I awarded the prestigious Hodder Fellowship by the Lewis Center for the Arts. This is a creative fellowship that was previously awarded to Danai Gurira and Nora Chipaumire – two immensely gifted ZImbabwean artists who inspire me. It is such an honour to be following in their artistic footsteps.
I am now an inaugural START Fellow at Princeton University.
Q: You once described your music audiences as a ” community participating in a shared ritual of collective healing.” Can you shed more light on this, particularly the healing aspect?
Q:My dissertation is called “Chimurenga ChePfungwa.” In it, I write about the importance of centering our indigenous knowledge systems in everything we do as a people.
After a 600-year agenda to destabilise from Hunhu Hwedu – our sense of personhood, any ac of resstabilisation of self is an act of healing.
I perform for audiences all over the world, but my songs are for my people. When I call on the ancestral melodies that are held in our soil, our trees, our hearts, and our blood, I know that we are all healing – one note at a time.
Q:Do you regard yourself as some kind of bridge between Zimbabwean traditional music and Western classical music?
No, I do not. To be a bridge, the two spaces you are connecting must be disconnected. It is not possible for me to bridge something that we hold creative ownership to. As I said earlier, there are widely disseminated, incomplete narratives that are circultating in human conscioiousness that exclude the authorship of African creatives – the narrative of Western classical music is one of them.
I do regard myself as a bridge in another way. I see myself as an emissary. We are all called to serve in different ways, and mine, for the past 14 years, has been to serve Zimbabwe from afar. I am a bridge in ways I face the very institutions that have played a part in our erasure. I hold them accountable and show them how to reform themselves. I also mentor and support Zimbabweans who hold similar callings like my own – the calling to serve from afar. In this way, I am a bridge to ease the transition from home to living here in the US.
Q: To date, how many musical projects have you come up with? Any new project we can look forward to?
A:To date, I have been a part of hundreds of music projects throughout my career. I am currently working on a new multidisciplinary, musical project called MWEDZI, which tells the story of my rite of passage into womanhood. The project combines, music, photography and writing.
I am also launching a creative arts, cultural enrichment programme called Mushandirapmwe Arts. This programme will kick-off in September in Highfields, right by my grandfather’s Mushandirapamwe Hotel.
Finally, I am the founder and CEO of ZImbabwe KIDS Summer Camp, a creative arts, cultural enrichment experience for ZImbabweans globally. Here you can expect an album of ChiVanhu children’s songs and ngano in the near future.
On stage, I’m currently gearing up for a series of concerts here in New Jersey with my vocal ensemble, the Mushandirapmwe singers, and in New York with my band.
Links:
Insta: @Dr_Tanyaradzwa
Website: https://www.zimkidscreate.com/
Twitter: @Mambano