March
16, 2017
A
Passion for the Marimba
Ottawa
Baha’i Zvondai Muchenje, shares his love for music, teaching and
marimbas
 When you walk into Zvondai
Muchenje’s living room in Ottawa the first
thing you notice is a big marimba next to a piano. Zvondai’s love for
the marimba is immediately apparent. For the past nine years he has
been sharing this love with children and adults, having formed a
children’s marimba band called the Colour of Diversity and an adult
band called Tine Rufaro (We Bring Joy).
How did all this musical richness start? As a child Zvondai
had played drums in his native Zambia and then as a teenager he learned
marimba, playing by ear the traditional music of the Shona, Zimbabwe
people, that has been passed along orally for thousands of years.
After coming to Ottawa he missed this traditional music and purchased
his first marimba from British Columbia in 2006.
Soon he began not just playing the instrument but building his own
marimbas. As he said “when you have a passion for something it is not
that hard.” By 2008 he had five marimbas and three little children of
his own. It was time to start a marimba Band.
 “As a Baha’i I wanted my kids to
enjoy going to Baha’i activities, like
monthly gatherings called Feasts and Baha’i Holy Days. So I formed The
Colour of Diversity Band so that they could develop a talent and have
something to share at Baha’i functions—something they loved.”
When they began, Zvondai explained, there were only five children,
feeling shy and embarrassed to perform before others. Now there are
seven children in the band and they can “wow their audiences” with
their ability to make breaks and restart all together. There are also
fourteen children he is teaching. This means Zvondai has built seven
marimbas—one large bass, one baritone, two tenors, and three
sopranos--and has spent many Saturday afternoons teaching children.
Nowadays the children do not just play at Baha’i activities. They reach
out into the community around them and play at senior residences, low
income sites like Ottawa Community Housing projects and, in November,
at City Hall for the mayor at an interfaith meeting. Furthermore, the
band no longer consists of only Baha’i children as others have joined
them.
 Some of the kids from the first
group in 2008 are in university now,
but they still enjoy playing with the band when they come home for
breaks. As Zvondai points out, playing in the band “builds memories. It
is an important part of their lives.”
Zvondai’s love of music extends to playing gigs with his adult marimba
band as far away as Cornwall, Kingston and Peterborough and teachings
workshops in secondary schools and classes for children and adults
every Friday night in New Edinburgh. He is also looking forward to
building a new marimba this summer. When you love something, nothing is
too hard.
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