Mbira Korositina by Chartwell Dutiro and Mike Parnell

The creation of this album wove together many different tales; of the mbira and the concertina, of the individual musicians and the paths that led them to work together, of colonization and resistance in different countries far apart.

In a Zimbabwe colonised by white settlers a Shona woman is captivated by the music of a concertina, she leaves her arranged marriage and starts a family with the musician, despite the disapproval of her mother and the severe consequences that may and do follow. This story is heard by her young nephew who is learning mbira and who thinks, ‘What is this sound that can have such a powerful effect on a person?’
In an Ireland barely free of colonial rule and still scarred by civil war, a young girl is fascinated by a travelling musician who comes round every year, playing pipes as he walks through the countryside and an accordion in town. She follows him and copies his tunes on a battered harmonica, later playing them for kitchen set dances. Her son hears these and starts copying them in turn, eventually being given a concertina by his uncle. Many years later his own interest in mbira music leads him to find a teacher, who already has a powerful connection with the concertina. The idea of a collaboration is born.
The mbira, an instrument honed by centuries of tradition, an integral part of the music, beliefs and identity of a people; hand made by craftsmen. The concertina, invented by a scientist and then mass produced in millions by the late nineteenth century. How do these stories merge? In England the concertina is taken up by traditional musicians playing for dances, spreading to Ireland, then stretching out to the corners of the British Empire, finding its way to Australia, the Americas, Egypt, and South Africa. It is taken up by missionaries, light, portable and capable of playing chords and tunes to hymns. And so it spreads into Zimbabwe at the end of the 1800’s. But just as everywhere else musically minded locals find it can be adapted to their own styles of music. You can still hear a few rare recordings of these Zimbabwean pioneers. But then the concertina’s day is over and its sound is replaced in turn, in South Africa by saxophone, in Zimbabwe by the electric guitar innovators of the 1960’s and beyond.
So the concertina meets the mbira and so the concertina player meets the mbira player and the challenge is to do justice to the music and to those now long gone Zimbabwean concertina players.

Dr Chartwell Dutiro was a musician, singer, songwriter, composer and teacher. Born and raised in Zimbabwe he lived in the UK when these recordings were made. He sadly passed away in 2019 leaving a huge musical legacy.

Mike Parnell started learning concertina and mandolin back in the 1970’s, then playing in assorted bands. He has travelled to Zimbabwe to learn mbira numerous times.
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