By Aimee Nassoiy

Special to the Islands’ Weekly

The very first time I heard Zimbabwean music being played on marimbas was at an early 1980’s Northwest Folklife Festival.

I remember watching Lora Chiora, a Shona woman of short stature, playing the big bass instrument with mallets like small sledge hammers.  She played with such passion, and the dance music was so compelling, I declared right on the spot that someday I would play this music.

In 1985 there was a community effort on Lopez to build a family of wooden keyed percussion instruments, called marimbas, based on the instruments used by the late Dr. Dumisani Maraire, better known as Dumi from Zimbabwe. The marimbas built by the Lopez community are presently used at Lopez School.

In 1991, Michael Bradley, aka Michael Breez, moved to Lopez Island. Michael had performed with Dumi, in one of the first Seattle marimba bands playing Zimbawean music. On Lopez, Michael founded Matendo marimba ensemble, which included myself and other musicians.  Matendo toured and performed for a couple of years.Then Michael and his wife moved to San Juan Island.

Of all types of music I have been involved in, playing marimba is a high energy blend of music and dance. I wanted to keep playing marimbas on Lopez, and formed the Mamatamba ensemble.

Mamatamba, in the Shona language of Zimbabwe, means Mother sing, play and dance. The band has played on Lopez, other islands in the San Juans, Canada, and at Zimbabwean Music Festivals. Mamatamba had so many strong singers in the group that we also started singing a cappella style, featuring the rich harmonies of the Ndeble or kwaZulu people, like Ladysmith Black Mambazo; and the rhythmically complex, call and response Shona singing style.

Vocal acuity is honed with experience and practice. Vocal blend has a certain amount of chemistry and magic. Mamatamba is blessed both with acuity and magic. Over years the band turned away from playing marimbas, focusing instead on our singing.

Mamatamba has been asked to sing at weddings, funerals, graduations, birthday celebrations, as well as benefit performances. One memorable time was singing for Margaret Devoe’s memorial celebration.We were told we would sing before her children spoke, but this was not how the ceremony progressed. Margaret’s grown children spoke with passion about their mother, and there were not many dry eyes in the crowd. As Mamatamba filed up to sing, I muttered “now we’ll find out how well we can sing while we are weeping.” As we began to sing, the power of song came forward and carried the group past our own emotions. Mamatamba has also performed together for a long enough time to sing for graduations of grown children who listened to our rehearsals from the womb.

Mamatamba will sing with Zimbabwean mbira master Musekiwa Chingodza, at the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts, Saturday, Aug. 18, 7:30 p.m. Tickets in advance are $12 from LCCA office and www.lopezcenter.org, Paper Scissors on the Rock, Blossoms Organic Grocery, and the Lopez Book Shop. Tickets at the door will be $15, or $25 family price.