Welcome to our substack!

Hello friends! It’s been 7 years since we released our album, Famba. The world has gone through alot of change since then. So have we – and we’d like to (re) introduce ourselves to you.

We are The Mbira Renaissance Band. In our own way, and in our own voice, we are shaping the future of alternative music coming from the African diaspora. Central to this is our focus on the Zimbabwean mbira. The call and response that comes with mbira music allows us to build community, one song at a time as we share stories in the familiar way that you might hear at family gatherings. Guramatunhu, for example, uses this style to reach back into Chaka’s (mbira player, composer) childhood memories of travelling across Southern Africa in his parents’ car.

The theme of family songs and gatherings is continued in our upcoming album, album, Roto: Living the Dream. Mauya Mauya (to be released June 28 2025) celebrates the gathering of parents, uncles, aunts, nephew, nieces, friends and the musicians that are about to play for them. Mauya means welcome :)

By exploring exciting cross-cultural collaborations, we also use this album to expand on where the mbira can go within the diasporan community. Zunza/Get Up (also to be released June 28 2025) features a West African djembe (played by Reckie Lloyd) and mbira outro. Mufaro a song about the unbridled joy of coming together, features Afro-Cuban JUNO award winning duo, OKAN and Jeremy Ledbetter (JUNO award winning jazz musician).

Speaking of jazz, you can look forward to hearing significant jazz influence in the new album. 4 of the 8 tracks feature a horn section, with the parts written and arranged by George Koufogiannakis and played by J.F Picard, Matt White, and John Dymianiw. We had been experimenting with this infusion for quite some time and first showcased in our single Famba, featuring Brett Miles. Our first performance with a horn section was at the 2023 Edmonton International Jazz Festival and expanded on it at the Yardbird Suite, Edmonton’s premier jazz venue.

We are looking forward to sharing more stories with you! Come check out our release party at CKUA on June 28 2025.

We look forward to sharing more stories with you, welcome to our substack, Mauya!

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