Entertainment / Music
Orphaned Zimbabwe teenage girls break into professional Mbira circles
16 Jan 2016 at 12:55hrs | Views
Precise Chapeyama and Hana Hleketere recently at the Ambassador Hotel, Harare Zimbabwe Photo By MTN
INSTEAD OF COWERING down to intergenerational transmission of poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination, two outstanding Zimbabwean teenage girls from Harare's poor Ruwa African Township have dared the odds by pursuing enduringly their passion and calling into the predominantly male infested professional Mbira music circles.
Precious Chapeyama and Hana Hleketere are the talk of the little township of Ruwa.
'We first started playing the Nyonga Nyonga Mbira when we joined the Marimba Club at Terrence Cecil Hard Government Secondary School in Ruwa under the patronage of a Miss Nyanungo,' narrated Hana.
Precious Chepayama born and bred in Ruwa and Hana Hleketere born at Rujeko Clinic in Harare's Dzivarasekwa suburb, are now both turning 17 this year. They both hail from very poor and marginalized African families, which struggled to put them through primary and secondary school. Precious lost both parents in a bizarre and tragic encounter while Hana is a fatherless girl.
'I've been through thick and thin, losing both my mom and dad in the same year through unclear circumstances' recalled Precious.
Apparently Precious' grandparents are taking care of her at their late parents' house in Ruwa. Hana on the one hand lost her father in 2007. Unfortunately due to patriarchal dominance in African inheritance customs, Hana's mother lost custody of her matrimonial house to her in-laws.
She retorted the ordeal of tenant-ship as her mother has to keep on moving from house to house as most landlords are ignorant of the plight of widows raising their families.
The Mbira is indeed a classic instrument of Zimbabwe, with an entire musical genre developed around it. It consists of approximately 20-24 flattened metal prongs which are fastened at one end to a wooden resonator body (usually some sort of box shape). The Mbira sits in a calabash (gourd) which acts as its resonator. The free ends of the metal prongs are plucked with the thumb of the left hand and the thumb and index finger of the right hand. The most important feature of Mbira music is its chiming, cyclical nature, with each new repetition varying slightly from the last.
Apparently the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon has said that: 'The newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) rightly include key targets for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They offer an opportunity for a global commitment to breaking intergenerational transmission of poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination – and realizing our vision of a life of dignity for all.'
As the global community launches the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for implementation over the next 15 years, it is a good time to recognize the achievements made in supporting young girls, while at the same time aspiring to support the current and upcoming generation of adolescent girls, to truly fulfil their potential as key actors in achieving a sustainable and equitable world. In recognition of the importance of investing in adolescent girls' empowerment and rights, both today and in the future, the theme of International Day of the Girl Child for 2015 is: The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030.
UN agencies, Member States, civil society organizations, and private sector stakeholders are called on to commit to putting adolescent girls at the centre of sustainable development efforts.
The commitment by the global community to realizing the potential of adolescent girls will directly translate into the girls as powerful and positive change agents for their own empowerment, for advancing gender equality and for the sustainable advancement of their nations.
On December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare 11 October as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls' rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
There is great need for extensive media coverage in Zimbabwe if we are to positively deal with issues surrounding the plight of the girl-child and women. More awareness programs and pressure groups ought to be set up if the battled is to be won.
The two Nyonga Nyonga Mbira outfit, Precise and Hana, are set to record their debut album and from the mock performance recorded by this reporter, the future is brighter for the duet.
Precious Chapeyama and Hana Hleketere are the talk of the little township of Ruwa.
'We first started playing the Nyonga Nyonga Mbira when we joined the Marimba Club at Terrence Cecil Hard Government Secondary School in Ruwa under the patronage of a Miss Nyanungo,' narrated Hana.
Precious Chepayama born and bred in Ruwa and Hana Hleketere born at Rujeko Clinic in Harare's Dzivarasekwa suburb, are now both turning 17 this year. They both hail from very poor and marginalized African families, which struggled to put them through primary and secondary school. Precious lost both parents in a bizarre and tragic encounter while Hana is a fatherless girl.
'I've been through thick and thin, losing both my mom and dad in the same year through unclear circumstances' recalled Precious.
Apparently Precious' grandparents are taking care of her at their late parents' house in Ruwa. Hana on the one hand lost her father in 2007. Unfortunately due to patriarchal dominance in African inheritance customs, Hana's mother lost custody of her matrimonial house to her in-laws.
She retorted the ordeal of tenant-ship as her mother has to keep on moving from house to house as most landlords are ignorant of the plight of widows raising their families.
The Mbira is indeed a classic instrument of Zimbabwe, with an entire musical genre developed around it. It consists of approximately 20-24 flattened metal prongs which are fastened at one end to a wooden resonator body (usually some sort of box shape). The Mbira sits in a calabash (gourd) which acts as its resonator. The free ends of the metal prongs are plucked with the thumb of the left hand and the thumb and index finger of the right hand. The most important feature of Mbira music is its chiming, cyclical nature, with each new repetition varying slightly from the last.
Apparently the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon has said that: 'The newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) rightly include key targets for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They offer an opportunity for a global commitment to breaking intergenerational transmission of poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination – and realizing our vision of a life of dignity for all.'
As the global community launches the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for implementation over the next 15 years, it is a good time to recognize the achievements made in supporting young girls, while at the same time aspiring to support the current and upcoming generation of adolescent girls, to truly fulfil their potential as key actors in achieving a sustainable and equitable world. In recognition of the importance of investing in adolescent girls' empowerment and rights, both today and in the future, the theme of International Day of the Girl Child for 2015 is: The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030.
UN agencies, Member States, civil society organizations, and private sector stakeholders are called on to commit to putting adolescent girls at the centre of sustainable development efforts.
The commitment by the global community to realizing the potential of adolescent girls will directly translate into the girls as powerful and positive change agents for their own empowerment, for advancing gender equality and for the sustainable advancement of their nations.
On December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare 11 October as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls' rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
There is great need for extensive media coverage in Zimbabwe if we are to positively deal with issues surrounding the plight of the girl-child and women. More awareness programs and pressure groups ought to be set up if the battled is to be won.
The two Nyonga Nyonga Mbira outfit, Precise and Hana, are set to record their debut album and from the mock performance recorded by this reporter, the future is brighter for the duet.
Source - Precise Chapeyama and Hana Hleketere recently at the Ambassador Hotel, Harare Zimbabwe Photo By MTN
