Timbila is a New York-based band that merges traditional music from Zimbabwe and Mozambique with East Village rock. Its American founders met in Zimbabwe in 1997 and have been creating together ever since. Chartwell Dutiro is a maverick mbira player from Zimbabwe with a story that begins in the sacred musical rituals of his home village, passes through the international limelight of the world music years in the company of Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited, and continues today in the U.K. Dutiro and Timbila began collaborating in 2013, and have developed an entrancing, expansive repertoire together. This album shows two sides of the collaboration: first, Timbila backing Dutiro in new interpretations of ancient Zimbabwean songs; then, Dutiro acting a producer for Timbila’s original compositions and arrangements. This two-way musical encounter has yielded an unexpected delicacy….sadza (the staple food of Zimbabwe) with the head of a mouse!
Praise for Sadza with the Head of a Mouse:
Timbila with distortion! A cutting edge sound that brings Mozambican tradition into the 21st century. — Angelique Kidjo
What were you people smoking? — Seun Kuti
Timbila brings their own mojo to some of the richest African musical traditions, with great heart, chops and authenticity. — Bonnie Raitt
A raucously good album! In a moment you hear what would usually take five songs to cover: Central Africa, Bamako, Ireland and mbira... and that’s just in one guitar solo. — Derek Gripper
This music may be thousands of miles from where it started, but far from being some sort of ethnomusicologist’s exercise, Timbila’s latest album never loses sight of music as a way of communicating human emotion, proving that, like sadza, music is what you bring to it. — Ben Richmond, from his album review on afropop.org.
$20:00 (2 CDs)