Mbira Korositina

Chartwell Dutiro is a well-known mbira (thumb piano) player, a former member of Thomas Mapfumo's group, and a teacher of Shona music from Zimbabwe. He has teamed up with Mike Parnell, who is a student of mbira, but plays a concertina on this recording.

On the surface it may seem an unusual instrumental combination. However the colonial history of Zimbabwe saw the instrument carried there by missionaries in the late 19th century. It is therefore a highly apposite collision of sounds – the pump-organ sonorities of the concertina fitting well with the delicate repeated sounds of plucked metallic keys from the thumb piano.

Almost inevitably, the sound of the concertina conjures up the atmosphere of the sea shanty, though in this case it is a delightfully sleepy and gentle sea shanty, rather than a rousing singalong affair. The Shona vocals are multi-tracked by Chartwell Dutiro himself and their hypnotic and repetitive nature contributes to a very captivating ambiance. The track ‘Tobin's’, for example, is clearly a jig rather than a traditional Shona composition. Yet the mbira accompaniment and Shona lyrics fit perfectly with the concertina's sweet melody line. Dutiro and Parnell's Mbira Korositina is a very impressive fusion album of seemingly improbable sounds.