Based in Dartington College, Devon, the Mhararano Mbira Academy will run courses in the mbira, an African instrument consisting of metal keys mounted on a wooden soundboard.
The new academy, headed by the Zimbabwean mbira player Chartwell Dutiro, will run one-off workshops as well as short practical and theoretical courses, and intensive residential courses. The aims of the academy go beyond instrumental tuition, and stretch to wider-reaching musical and social ambitions — ‘mhararano’ means ‘cross-roads’ in Shona, a language spoken in parts of Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique. Among the stated aims of the new academy are ‘supporting our planet and all life on it’, ‘practising honesty and ritual’ and ‘finding non-traditional ways of measuring outcomes’.
The next residential course is titled the ‘Zimbabwe in Devon Camp’, and takes place on 26 June to 2 July 2012.
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