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Jennifer Kyker - Mbira Performance & Tariro Presentation
‘Friday Night Live’ at Island Coffee House, Langley, WA
Friday, November 6th
7 to 9 pm FREE!
Join us for an evening of traditional mbira dzavadzimu music from Zimbabwe. Featured performer Jennifer Kyker will weave a rich musical experience with visual images linking us to Zimbabwe past and present.
Through her strong playing of the mbira dzavadzimu (of the spirits) and evocative vocals, Jennifer conveys the depth and power of traditional Shona music. The images from her recent trip will place this music clearly within its cultural context, giving audiences an intimate view of Zimbabwe.
Jennifer Kyker began to play marimba in 1990 and mbira in 1992. She has lived and studied in Zimbabwe for over three years. Jennifer has performed with various artists in Zimbabwe and the United States, including Kudana Marimba Ensemble, the Chigamba family's group Mhembero, Wagogo, and Chris Berry and Panjea. With Musekiwa Chingodza, she released the CD Tsunga and also performed on Musekiwa's solo album Chingodza Budai Pachena. Jennifer has been teaching at Zimfest since 1995. She is currently working on a Ph.D. dissertation in ethnomusicology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Tariro - Hope & Health for Zimbabwean AIDS Orphans
Jennifer Kyker is the founder and executive director of Tariro, a non-profit organization working to educate and empower Zimbabwean girls in communities affected by HIV/AIDS. Her talk will be accompanied by photos illustrating Tariro’s work and her recent visit to Zimbabwe.
A Eugene native and South Eugene High School graduate, Jennifer first lived in Zimbabwe in 1995 as a teenager studying music and dance. As the HIV/AIDS epidemic intensified, she witnessed the struggle that orphaned schoolchildren faced when they could not pay their school fees. Upon her return to the United States, she founded Tariro, which means ”hope” in the Shona language.
Jennifer, now a doctoral candidate in ethnomusicology at the University of Pennsylvania, recognized a special need to work with young Zimbabwean women who are at higher risk of dropping out of school because of social and financial pressures. The United Nations has recognized education as the single most important factor in reducing the transmission of HIV/AIDS. By providing tuition, books and uniforms, Tariro is simultaneously working to educate and empower women, and to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
For additional information, visit www.tariro.org
Kutsinhira’s Fall newsletter has an article about Jennifer’s early experience with Shona music and her experiences in Zimbabwe:
http://www.kutsinhira.org/wiki/index.php/Fall_09_Newsletter
This is a new blog Jen set up to keep people posted about Tariro:
http://tarirohope.wordpress.com/
Jennifer’s Recordings:
“Tsunga” with Musekiwa Chingodza
“Muronda Tsimba” with Musekiwa Chingodza
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