Chiwoniso, Black Bird in collaboration

Chiwoniso Maraire

Mbira maestro Chiwoniso Maraire and hip-hop rapper Black Bird have combined voices to come up with a new version of Ndofandichibayiwa, a song previously performed by Maraire. Black Bird (real name Nonku Vundla) said she was happy to work with Maraire to come up with such collaboration. She said she would learn more in the industry through working with such an experienced artist.

I am happy to collaborate with Chiwoniso as this helps me to gain more knowledge and experience within this male-dominated industry, said Black Bird. It is wonderful when a woman reaches out to another woman as there are very few women who are willing to help each other. The song Ndofandichibayiwa, which has also been used as the theme song in a recent movie directed by Rumbidzai Katedza, Playing Warriors, carries a theme relevant to the girl child and society.

Maraires manager Tsungi Zvobgo confirmed the collaboration saying it was done at Katedzas request. She wanted a theme song for the film and we were asked to collaborate with Black Bird. We cannot reveal our future plans on the collaboration at the moment, but we are hoping to release the song to the public, said Zvobgo.The theme of the song is about a young single woman who gets pressure from the family to get married yet she wants to pursue her career and follow her passion. This is a special message to our parents and the society at large. They should not pressurise the girl child who would not be ready to get married before attaining targets that she would have set for herself in life, said Black Bird.

The hip-hop rapper said she planned to work on more projects with Maraire which include a hip-hop track.

We have plans to do more projects with Chiwoniso who was one of the first female rappers in Zimbabwe to drop some rhymes with Piece of Ebony and Tony Capone, said Black Bird. Black Bird said her passion is to work hard and assist young women achieve their goals. She challenged emerging artists to be brave and follow their passion despite all the challenges in the industry.

I just want to urge the upcoming artists to be brave and strong enough in shaping their careers since there are a lot of obstacles that can be encountered along the way which need determination to overcome. Black Bird, however, has expressed concern about some promoters that do not respect the work of artists, but were only concerned with making money at the expense of the artists. Promoters must have artists at heart rather than being concerned with making their pockets fat while ignoring welfare of artists. Newsday