The idea to record an album like Matare with over sixty minutes of music non stop was born because Mbira music unfolds its psychic power only in time. So with Matare you have the chance to experience the power of Mbira for the first time on a sound carrier.
Matare was composed by Virginia Mukwesha out of "variations"/improvised patterns of traditional Mbira songs. Seven Mbiras play Matare each with different variations of which one works as lead part. As the whole song consists of five different lead themes about 35 variations have been combined. When Mukwesha´s lead Mbira changes to a new lead variation the other players use individual bridges to switch also to a new variation. Variations make melodies come out of the song. To keep the sound cool the Mbiras are played without calabash resonator and without bottle tops.

Matare starts with motives from Nyamaropa ("Bloody Meat"). Nyamaropa is the mother of all Mbira songs because most spirits will come through its performance and because it has more power than any other Mbira song. After ca. nine minutes Matare uses motives from the song Mahororo enriched with Bukatiende ("Get up and let´s go") and Karigamombe ("Taking A Bull By The Horns"). Mahororo is named after a river because of its flowing like water. You may also divide Matare in a first part which corresponds to the type of music played when the spirit is talking while the second part made with "Ngoma" (traditional drums) makes the spirit dance just for the sake of being happy. Matare gradually gains more speed and more weight. The members of Mukwesha nema Gwenyambira have been selected to record Matare because of their fluidity and strength. For us they rank among the best.
Otari Chidembo is not only a Mbira player but also a Mbira builder and a spirit medium.

He has never had any Mbira teacher but in the night he dreams the traditional songs and how to play them. This happened to him despite growing up in a family with Christian belief.

Chinembiri Chidodo has been a cattle herder when he was taught Mbira by the family of his employer. For some years he has been house musician of a spirit medium on a commercial farm and then on drums, Mbira and dance became a key member of The National Dance Company of Zimbabwe. Today he performs with Batanai or solo and is touring internationally with several bands. He has a solo drum album called "Ngoma".

Sydney Musarurwa has learned Mbira in his village. He has his own farm in the countryside. He is so good that he became the ghostwriter for another very famous Mbira player. We don´t know how he has become such an excellent Mbira whistler.
Leonard Ngwenya has pioneered the translation of Mbira to Marimba in Stella Chiweshe´s Earthquake Band. He is also very good on Mbira Ngoma, the traditional drum style for Mbira music, and he is a very cool melder of Ngoma into the Mbirasound.

Virginia Mukwesha went professional at the age of twelve playing Mbira and Hosho in ceremonies. Soon she played in the Dallas-like competitions of the rural Jiti R´n´R moonshine teenage parties. With the advent of the liberation war she also figured with Jiti music as singer, dancer and drummer in the Pungwes ("All night longs") of the freedomfighters. With Stella Rambisai Chiweshe she has toured Africa and Europe and since 1991 she is performing also solo or with her "Jiti Dance Express" band as well as staging dance workshops and teaching Mbira and traditional culture. She has released two albums with Jiti, the hot and wild dance music of the young women. She works both as traditional Gwenayambira and as modern pop musician.