Useza, by Chaka Chawasarira

Useza

by Chaka Chawasarira

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Axonberg ⛏️⛏️ retour modeux jaune Favorite track: Hurombo.

rodeoboy This is psychoactive music. What a rabbit hole. The more you listen, the more you hear, and the more you learn to listen. The same is true for many musics, of course, be it Baroque fugues or Carnatic music. But this is special because the ingredients are so simple and familiar to everyone.

If you have the vinyl, try starting the songs somewhere in the middle, especially after listening to other music. With a bit of luck, you'll hear something entirely different from the song you already know.

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Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.

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1.	Hurombo 05:02	buy track
2.	Kuvachenjedza 07:10	buy track
3.	Wako Ndiwako 07:04	buy track
4.	Ndonda 07:12	buy track
5.	Msengu 04:56	buy track
6.	Marume Azere Dare 07:12	buy track

about

In English, the Shona word "Useza" means someone of great skill, meticulousness, and precision, and it perfectly illuminates Sekuru Chaka Chawasarira's lifelong practice. The eminent Zimbabwean artist and educator is among the last remaining masters of the matepe, a large mbira-style instrument that's played with both thumbs and index fingers to expand its rhythmelodic complexity. And on 'Useza', he fully demonstrates the matepe's illusory potential, overdubbing hypnotic sequences to provoke shifting harmonic progressions that ethnomusicologist Andrew Tracey labeled "kaleidophonic" back in 1970.

An ancient art within North-Eastern Zimbabwe's Shona culture, the matepe is traditionally used in local rituals, where its ambiguous psychoacoustic mirages evoke trance states to aid communication with ancestral spirits. Only half a century ago, ceremonies amongst the Sena Tonga and Kore-Kore peoples might easily involve six or more musicians, each playing interlocking polyrhythmic sequences. In 2025, the music is threatened with extinction; following decades of vilification from Zimbabwe's evangelical and pentecostal churches, who associate the rituals with witchcraft, there are fewer than ten master musicians left.

Called the "Mozart of mbira" by composer Keith Goddard, 83-year-old Chawasarira has been developing his relationship with the instrument since he was just a young man. He grew up in a Catholic mission and was dedicated to the church, founding his own choir, but he maintained his connection to Zimbabwean culture by studying the region's traditional rhythms. Chawasarira's father had been a well-known drummer, and when Chawasarira was older, working as a teacher at the mission school, he ventured out to observe local mbira ensembles, eventually participating regularly in spirit ceremonies. And although there were tensions between Chawasarira's work with the church and his interest in traditional ceremonial music, he managed to strike a precarious balance, introducing drums to his Catholic services in the 1960s and even composing a mass for karimba. Chawasarira's reputation grew steadily; he was invited to Lousville University in the 1990s to represent Zimbabwe at a contemporary composition festival, and his youth ensembles helped popularize Shona mbira music not just at home, but around the world.

Today's evangelicals are less tolerant than the Catholic church however, with fundamentalist preachers blaming mbira music for all manner of tragedy. Chawasarira remains undeterred; living in Chitungwiza, he builds matepes and karimbas and tutors children, and 'Useza' is a celebration of his years of experience, a way for the maestro to preserve his repertoire for future generations. Recorded at the dead of night, the rest of the township sound asleep, the album reproduces the mesmerizing sound of a Shona ritual by overlaying discrete fractal sequences filled with haunting overtones and buzzing rhythms. Chawasarira works alone, chanting over the weightless polyrhythms to create musical illusions that offer multiple perspectives for listening. It's a technique that's been approached by various minimalist composers and avant-garde explorers in the 20th century and beyond, and Chawasarira goes straight to the source, skillfully substantiating kaleidophony and safeguarding Zimbabwe's heritage.

credits

released June 6, 2025

Project Production by Stefan Franke
Recorded by Kuda Samora Nyaruwabvu
Mixed by Amaury Groc & Stefan Franke
Mastered by Declared Sound
Photography by Stefan Franke
Vinyl Graphic Layout by Marc Armand
More info: matepe.org/album

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Nyege Nyege Tapes Kampala, Uganda

Nyege Nyege Tapes is a Kampala based label exploring, producing and releasing outsider music from around the region and beyond.

We fulfill orders twice weekly, so most items will be shipped out within 3-5 days of your order being placed, with tracking provided automatically. We ship all records in whiplash mailers with extra cardboard protection.

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