Tradition is key for Zimbabwean soul singer Chipo Nyambiya

Zimbabwean singer Chipo Nyambiya seduced audiences with her folk-soul style at the Nuits d'Afrique festival which took place recently in Montreal. She plays the mbira and the kalimba, traditional Zimbabwean instruments.

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Chipo Nyambiya plays traditional Zimbabwean instruments and sings about empowerment. © RFI

"My lyrics are soulful. The lyrics talk mostly about empowerment. It doesn’t have to be a set in stone genre but it is about the soul," Chipo Nyambiya told RFI's Daniel Lieuze at the Nuits d'Afrique festival.

"I can probably say it’s folk-soul music."

The mbira, an ancient instrument traditional to the Shona people, was included in 2020 in Unesco’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

"Stella Chiweshe inspired me a lot [...] She was bold enough to go on stage and play an instrument – the mbira – which was being dominated by men," Nyambiya explained.

Her passion for music goes back to childhood. At the age of nine, she joined her school choir while. She studied music for many years and earned a degree in musicology and ethno-choreography.

"I would like to empower young girls by looking at how my life is, where I come from.

"I am a woman, a young girl child who comes from a village deep in Africa, in Zimbabwe.

"I want my music to reach those girls and talk to them and be like: you just have to believe and trust in yourself because anything is possible. You can be anyone you want," Nyambiya added.