Album Notes

Amy Robinson has been playing mbira since 1996. She visited Zimbabwe in 1997, where she took lessons with mbira giants Stella Chiweshe, Ephat Mujuru, Tute Chigamba, and Sidney Muratu. Unlike many mbira players who develop a love of one tuning, she has a love of several tunings. Seven different mbiras are featured on her recording, thus explaining the title of this CD.

Recently, she has studied with Cosmas Magaya, Ambuya Beauler Dyoko, and Musekiwa Chingodza of Zimbabwe. She has also studied with accomplished American mbira artist, Jennifer Kyker.

Amy's journey with African music began with efforts to play guitar while listening to Thomas Mapfumo recordings. She found herself timid while playing for others, so she took up the djembe. Playing African drums led her to West African and Zimbabwean dance, where she discovered the mbira and marimba. Amy also has been playing marimba for 8 years, and she cofounded Kubatana Marimba Band in Albuquerque in August of 2004.

Amy has performed mbira in small performance venues, but she wanted to be able to share these healing tunes with a larger audience. This recording represents an effort to assimilate some of her favorite songs and to present her original composition, Amai.

"7 Mbiras" is a unique recording in that there is a variety of arrangements. Many mbira recordings combine the mbira, hosho and singing on all tracks. This CD features tracks both with and without vocal tracks and with and without hosho. This offers the listener an array of perspectives on the music.