Friday, March 6, 1998
The Three Divas
MUSIC: The musical trio that calls itself Global Divas takes
listeners from Zimbabwe to Peru
By Jammie Salagubang
Daily Bruin Contributor
Been around the world lately?
On Sunday in the Veterans Wadsworth Theater, the Global Divas
will attempt to give audiences an international music
experience.
Susana Baca, Stella Chiweshe and Tish Hinojosa comprise the
first group of women to perform under this title.
"They cross boundaries – it’s really an interesting combination
of these three women representing world-music styles that fit
together yet are very different," says Michael Blachly, director of
the UCLA Center for Performing Arts. "It’s international folkloric
music, and really it’s celebrating the diverse contributions of
female musicians."
One of the highlights of this tour is Stella Chiweshe’s music
from Zimbabwe. Though her music is from an exotic locale, Chiweshe
says it has a universal appeal.
"It heals, it soothes, it’s very relaxing," Chiweshe says. "It
is also music that makes it possible for people to get in touch
with themselves, in touch with the universe."
An important part of Chiweshe’s music is the mbira dza vadzmu, a
22-pronged, metal, hand piano. However, if just pronouncing the
name sounds difficult, learning to play it was even more so for
Chiweshe because of her gender.
"When I (first) heard this mbira, I wanted to keep hearing it,"
Chiweshe says. "But everybody – women and men, girls and boys –
looked at me as though I had lost my mind for wanting to play
it."
The male attitude in Zimbabwe is so biased against female mbira
players that she says men don’t even want to marry a woman who know
how to play.
"Once the men had put down their rules, they were hard to move,"
Chiweshe relates. "But this wasn’t a rule from my ancestors, but a
rule from the living, and that’s why I pushed myself and really
fought against it."
Listening to spirits also plays an important part in inspiring
Chiweshe. She says some people even refer to her as
"Priestess."
"I’m not just playing for the world, I’m praying for the world,"
she explains. "(When I play) I’m much more connected to spirits
than to people. I’m very connected to nature."
Baca takes the audience on a trip to Peru with the nature of her
Afro-Peruvian music.
"It’s very rhythmic music because of its African roots, but at
the same time, because of the Andean influence, you get a very
melancholy feel," Baca says.
Baca herself is a camba (a person of mixed native Peruvian and
African ancestry) and says she was born into the music. She
remembers her mother putting her to bed before parties as a child
but never going to sleep because she stayed up to listen to the
music.
"I loved the music before anything else," Baca says. "It was a
part of me from the very beginning."
Like Chiweshe, Baca uses native instruments to help her achieve
her unique sound. One of the principle instruments she uses is the
cajon, a wooden box that roughly equals the role of drums in
American music. She also uses a quijada de burro, an actual
donkey’s jaw which produces a buzzing sound.
"(It) even has rattling teeth," Baca laughs.
Baca’s difficulty comes not from learning to play the music, but
from a lack of attention to it. For a while, Peru banned
Afro-Peruvian music because its composers were mostly enslaved.
"The music comes from a place where the people who wrote it and
the people who it’s written about have suffered so much," Baca
comments. "It was very lonely and sad for them since there wasn’t a
time or place for these people to share their music."
Strong emotions and feelings heavily influence Baca’s music. She
says one of her works, "Maria Lando," came about through her
observations of the extraordinary efforts of women during an
economic crisis in Peru.
"It’s just the consciousness of women, their survival skills,
their love for their children – all of these things that make up a
woman is what really inspired me," Baca reveals.
Finally, we land back in America to discover Tish Hinojosa’s
blend of Southwestern music. A native of south Texas, Hinojosa
sings in both Spanish and English.
"(Hinojosa’s music) has some folk, rock and some country tinges
of music because it’s part of what she experienced growing up,"
Blachly says.
With so many musical and cultural differences, one might think
it would be hard to come together in harmony. However, Chiweshe
says that the first day these Global Divas met, they started to
play music together.
"It wasn’t the easiest thing to combine the three of us at
first, but we’re at a point now in our relationships where we’re
beginning to share so much," Baca says. "It’s amazing when you get
the musicians from Zimbabwe to back up Tish and I. That whole
mixture is quite impressive."
MUSIC: The Global Divas perform Sunday at 7 p.m. in the Veterans
Wadsworth Theater. Tickets are $25, $22 and $10 with UCLA I.D. For
more information, call (310) 825-2101.International Music
Network
Musician Susana Baca brings her Afro-Peruvian background to
"Global Divas."