Award-winning Mbira musician Mbuya Stella Chiweshe has died.
Relatives have confirmed that she passed away this morning at her Kuwadzana home in Harare, according to ZBC News.
The publication cites a close relative, Rector Kandemiviri as saying:
She wasn’t feeling much well of late, coupled with age. The last time she came kumusha she was saying her days are almost up and as such, she needed to settle back home.
She was born Stella Rambisai Nekati Chiweshe on 8 July 1946 in Mujumi Village, Mhondoro, Zimbabwe.
She was well-known throughout the world for her singing and playing mbira dzavadzimu, a Zimbabwean traditional instrument.
Mbuya Chiweshe, who is arguably the first pioneer of Chimurenga music, learned to play mbira from 1966 to 1969 when even fewer females played the instrument.
She took part in the WOMAD festival and gave several performances throughout Germany (1994 in the United States, 1995 in Australia, and 2006 in Spain).
In 2004 she toured England with her daughter.
Mbuya Chiweshe was married to Peter Reich, a German national.