Ephat Mujuru: Journey of the Spirit CD

Ephat Mujuru was one of the great masters of the mbira, the melodious and spiritually charged thumb piano that is the centerpiece of Zimbabwe's Shona culture.
Mujuru was born into the Shona people, a group of tribes that collectively form the vast majority of the population of modern Zimbabwe. Considered to be a part of the Bantu language group, for centuries the Shona and their ancestors have lived and died on the land of southeastern Africa.

Mujuru was born into a very deep tradition, which had been developed for over a thousand years by certain tribes of the Shona people. In previous centuries, court musicians played mbira for Shona kings and their spirit diviners. Despite these aristocratic origins, mbira and its ceremonies became a part of the Shona people's daily life, pervading all aspects of Shona culture, both sacred and secular.

The functions of mbira and the ceremonies were many, but its most profound is in the matter of death ceremonies. A mbira is played for a week following the death of a chief before the community is informed of his passing. Approximately one year after a person's physical death another ceremony is performed and the individual's spirit is welcomed back into the community to take its place amongst the ancestors.

Disembarking in London after the long night flight from Harare, Mujuru felt hot and weak. Paramedics were called but he died enroute to the hospital, of a pulmonary embolism on October 27th 2001. Journey of the Spirit is Mujuru's last recorded work. It is being released on the one year anniversary of his passing so his fans may play his album and welcome his spirit home from his ethereal journey.

1. The Lion (Shumba)
2. Imagination
3. Nyamaropa
4. Mbiriwiri (My Sound)
5. Africa Meet Africa
6. Mabweadziwa
7. Peace
8. Chigamba (A Patch)
9. Tema Musasa (Mbira Blues)
10. Taireva
11. Dande
12. The Train