“Myrna Capp’s down-to-earth interviews with thirteen musicians from Zimbabwe form the basis of this thought-provoking and informative collection. These are the personal stories of Zimbabwean traditional and pop singers, ‘mbirists,’ guitarists, pianists, percussionists, dancers, ‘praise poets,’ jazz musicians, and even an ethnomusicologist. Female and male perspectives are evenly represented, with emphasis upon keeping the true traditional music alive, and reflecting the importance of improvisation. Many sensitive photographs and sketches reflect the Capp family’s eight years of interaction with the people. It’s a ‘must-own’ for your personal and institutional library on Africa.”

--Loran Olsen, Emeritus Professor of Music, Washington State University

“The music of the Shona of Zimbabwe is certainly one of the most original in Africa, being built on a theoretical system capable of generating an infinite number of outcomes—think of the blues sequence ten times richer—which only came to the notice of the outside world from the 1960’s onwards. Since then, it has exploded onto the awareness of hundreds of musicians around the world who are keen to follow the completely new route map that it offers for putting together those seven ancient diatonic notes whose possibilities some of us thought had been exhausted. (And this will not be all; Africa still has many surprises up its sleeve!)”

-- Andrew Tracey, International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

"A brilliant and beautifully illustrated book that probes the mind and creative spirit of African musicians. A definite must read."

--William Chapman Nyaho, Ghanaian-American pianist and independent scholar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MYRNA CAPP has a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Washington, and is assistant professor of music at Seattle Pacific University where she teaches piano and piano pedagogy. She is active as a collaborative pianist and adjudicator and regularly writes reviews for the American Music Teacher journal. She has given presentations on her African research and pedagogical topics at various regional, national and international conferences. Dr. Capp has lectured in music, performed, and done research in Zimbabwe, Malawi and South Africa.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER
KRISTIN CAPP has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around the world. Her award winning monograph, Hutterite: A World of Grace (Edition Stemmle,1998) was followed by the monograph, Americana (Edition Stemmle, 2000). Her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, The International Center for Photography, NY; the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, Paris, and the Kunsthaus, Zurich among others. She is a recipient of the Aaron Siskind Foundation Award in Photography,the Olympus Europa Foundation Award in Photography, GmbH, and was a Fellow at the Sacatar Foundation Residency in Brazil in 2004. Keeping the Embers Alive: Musicians of Zimbabwe marks her third publication, a collaborativework done in Zimbabwe with Myrna Capp. She lives and works in New York.

CATEGORY
Music, Biographies/AFRICA