Chiwoniso Maraire (5 March 1976 – 24 July 2013) was a Zimbabwean singer, songwriter, and exponent of Zimbabwean mbira music. She was the daughter of the late renowned Zimbabwean mbira player and teacher Dumisani Maraire.

Career

Describing the mbira, she said, "[it] is like a large xylophone. It is everywhere in Africa under different names: sanza, kalimba, etc. For us in Zimbabwe it is the name for many string instruments. There are many kinds of mbiras. The one that I play is called the nyunga nyunga, which means sparkle-sparkle."

Chiwoniso fronted her acoustic group Chiwoniso & Vibe Culture for several years. From 2001 to 2004, she was also a core member of the multinational all-women band Women's Voice, whose original members hailed from Norway, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, America, Israel and Algeria. Chiwoniso also starred in film, having worked on the soundtracks for movies and documentaries by an array of Zimbabwean writers and film producers in the last ten years.

Speaking out against Police brutality

She said, "To beat people, to threaten people, to put a person in a situation where they have to think for the next five hours about whether or not they are going to be okay — is a very, very bad thing to do."

Death

She died on 24 July 2013.

Discography

• Ancient Voices (2001)
• Timeless (2004)
• Hupenyu Kumusha, Life at Home, Impilo Ekhaya. The Collaboration: Volume 1. (2006)
• Rebel Woman (2008)

Compilations

• Listen To The Banned (2010)