EPHAT MUJURU
JOURNEY OF THE SPIRIT

Produced by Rachel Faro & Banning Eyre

Shona Mbira music embodies all the qualities which positive music should have:  it is healing, happy, entertaining, reaches the heart, it has beauty and it moves.  Mbira music is spiritual because it transmits positive energy.  It is like a deep cleaning of our thoughts.  The purpose of this album is to create a special atmosphere which will clean our minds, so needful in this world of too much information.     – Ephat Mujuru

Journey of the Spirit is the fulfillment of Ephat Mujuru's lifelong aspiration to integrate his inheritance as a traditional mbira player in the spirit ceremonies of Zimbabwe's Shona tribe, with his personal vision of making a new kind of music that would be accessible and entertaining to modern audiences everywhere.  Reflecting decades of commitment and hard work, Journey of the Spirit is a state-of-the-art recording of mbira music as only a master such as Ephat can play it.   

Fans of traditional African music will consider Journey of the Spirit as a must-have release.  For the uninitiated, this recording will open the door to one of the most surprising and beautiful musical traditions on the African continent.  Beyond cultural definitions, for many the delicate beauty of the mbira will bring peace and calm the speed and noise of everyday 21st century life.   

The sound and rhythm of the mbira "clean the mind" and set the ground for a great spiritual journey: the individual's journey to the sights and sounds of foreign lands and cultures (Africa Meet Africa, The Train from Harare to Johannesburg), as well as the soul's journey to sacred inner spaces (Mabweadziwa, Tema Mesasu).  Some pieces layer up to three mbira parts in a delicate and complex pattern, on others one hears only the lulling delicacy of a solo mbira.  Ephat's gentle, humming singing weaves through the lovely, hypnotic arrangements.  

Ephat plays a variety of mbiras as well as the traditional hosho (shaker) and ngoma (hand drum).  The sheer energy of Ephat's  performance and the immediacy of his messages reveal Ephat’s years of playing in Harare nightclubs with his highly successful acoustic/electric band, while the nuances of Ephat's astounding mbira technique create an other-worldly atmosphere that invokes the ancient ceremonies and displays his traditional role in the spiritual lives of his people.

These eleven all-acoustic tracks include arrangements and interpretations of the ancient ceremonial mbira songs used for centuries by the Shona people to invoke the spirits of the ancestors.  To these Ephat adds several original compositions which, for all their modern quirks, retain the same fresh, childlike spirit as the traditional songs.  On certain tracks he has added the sounds of other cultures as accents, while retaining the music's basic integrity.  The Train From Harare To Johannesburg counts members of the New York-based Spirit Ensemble among its passengers, playing steel pans, vocals and drums.  Members of the Cuban band Mezcla contribute background vocals and tsekere on Africa Meets Africa, literally expressing Ephat’s observations that the African "flash of the spirit" is alive and well throughout the Americas.

Journey of the Spirit represents the realization of Ephat’s long-standing ambition to present his art in a fully realized recording.  As such, it will serve as his calling card for years to come.

TRACK LIST

Nyamaropa (The Journey of the Spirit)	5:23
Dande	4:55
Africa Meet Africa	4:19
Imagination	3:29
The Lion (Shumba)	6:21
Peace	2:35
Mbiriwiri (My Sound)	5:59
Chigamba (A Patch)	3:09
The Train (From Harare To Johannesburg)	6:10
Tema Musasa (Mbira Blues)	3:17
Taireva	5:59

IN MEMORIAM

EPHAT MUJURU

1950- 2001

On October 27^th, 2001 Ephat was on his way to teach in the United States.  Disembarking in London after the long night flight from Harare, Mujuru felt hot and weak. Paramedics were called but he died of a pulmonary embolism, enroute to the hospital.

Journey of the Spirit was recorded over a period of several years and it is interesting that, despite many efforts, this album was not to be released until after his death.  As we prepared this album for release, we felt Ephat’s gentle lovely spirit as we dedicated ourselves to this work.

In Shona culture the functions of mbira are many, but its most profound is in the matter of death ceremonies.  A mbira is played for a week following the death of a chief before the community is informed of his passing.

Approximately one year after a person's physical death another ceremony is performed and the individual's spirit is welcomed back into the community to take its place amongst the ancestors.

This last album was released exactly one year after Ephat’s physical death.  It is our greatest wish that his family, friends and fans will play this album and welcome his spirit home from its ethereal journey.