Cue Corrector v. 10.2.3 / b. 2109 (Feb. 07, 2024) ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— --- / Useza Folder: Chaka Chawasarira - 2025 - Useza (web) Audio files: 01. Hurombo.flac [05:02.000; FLAC • 824 kbps • 16 bit \ 44100 Hz • stereo; 29.67 MB (31 106 021 B)] 02. Kuvachenjedza.flac [07:10.000; FLAC • 798 kbps • 16 bit \ 44100 Hz • stereo; 40.92 MB (42 911 956 B)] 03. Wako ndiwako.flac [07:04.000; FLAC • 845 kbps • 16 bit \ 44100 Hz • stereo; 42.73 MB (44 803 114 B)] 04. Ndonda.flac [07:12.000; FLAC • 819 kbps • 16 bit \ 44100 Hz • stereo; 42.20 MB (44 253 081 B)] 05. Msengu.flac [04:56.000; FLAC • 848 kbps • 16 bit \ 44100 Hz • stereo; 29.96 MB (31 411 614 B)] 06. Marume azere dare.flac [07:12.000; FLAC • 856 kbps • 16 bit \ 44100 Hz • stereo; 44.13 MB (46 274 513 B)] Accuracy: -m0 File 01. Hurombo - 100% CDDA [05:02:00] File 02. Kuvachenjedza - 95% MPEG [07:10:00] File 03. Wako ndiwako - 100% CDDA [07:04:00] File 04. Ndonda - 99% CDDA [07:12:00] File 05. Msengu - 99% CDDA [04:56:00] File 06. Marume azere dare - 100% CDDA [07:12:00] ————— Summary: ————— These tracks looks like CDDA with probability 100%. ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ANALYZER: auCDtect: CD records authenticity detector, version 0.8.2 Copyright (c) 2004 Oleg Berngardt. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2004 Alexander Djourik. All rights reserved. Time elapsed: 51.4 s Log created at July 24, 2025 01:36:16 === F41216545CFFF52DC1652AF7552001506D4B3F5018846790C6719336B29E465B ===
Динамический отчет (DR):
Cue Corrector v. 10.2.3 / b. 2109 (Feb. 07, 2024) log date: 2025-07-24 01:35:21 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Album : Useza Year : 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR10 -0.53 dB -12.45 dB 5:02 01 - Hurombo / Chaka Chawasarira DR11 -0.52 dB -12.53 dB 7:10 02 - Kuvachenjedza / Chaka Chawasarira DR10 -0.52 dB -12.86 dB 7:04 03 - Wako ndiwako / Chaka Chawasarira DR11 -0.45 dB -12.60 dB 7:12 04 - Ndonda / Chaka Chawasarira DR10 -0.45 dB -12.65 dB 4:56 05 - Msengu / Chaka Chawasarira DR11 -0.38 dB -12.58 dB 7:12 06 - Marume azere dare / Chaka Chawasarira -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks : 6 Official DR Value: DR11 Samplerate : 44100 Hz Channels : 2 Bits per sample : 16 Average bitrate : 831 kbps Codec : FLAC ================================================================================
Скриншоты спектров частот:
об альбоме
In English, the Shona word 'Useza' means someone of great skill, meticulousness, and precision, and it perfectly illuminates Sekuru Chaka Chawasarira's lifelong practice. The eminent Zimbabwean artist and educator is among the last remaining masters of the matepe, a large mbira-style instrument that's played with both thumbs and index fingers to expand its rhythmelodic complexity. And on "Useza", he fully demonstrates the matepe's illusory potential, overdubbing hypnotic sequences to provoke shifting harmonic progressions that ethnomusicologist Andrew Tracey labeled "kaleidophonic" back in 1970. An ancient art within North-Eastern Zimbabwe's Shona culture, the matepe is traditionally used in local rituals, where its ambiguous psychoacoustic mirages evoke trance states to aid communication with ancestral spirits. Only half a century ago, ceremonies amongst the Sena Tonga and Kore-Kore peoples might easily involve six or more musicians, each playing interlocking polyrhythmic sequences. In 2025, the music is threatened with extinction; following decades of vilification from Zimbabwe's evangelical and pentecostal churches, who associate the rituals with witchcraft, there are fewer than ten master musicians left. Called the "Mozart of mbira" by composer Keith Goddard, 83-year-old Chawasarira has been developing his relationship with the instrument since he was just a young man. He grew up in a Catholic mission and was dedicated to the church, founding his own choir, but he maintained his connection to Zimbabwean culture by studying the region's traditional rhythms. Chawasarira's father had been a well-known drummer, and when Chawasarira was older, working as a teacher at the mission school, he ventured out to observe local mbira ensembles, eventually participating regularly in spirit ceremonies. And although there were tensions between Chawasarira's work with the church and his interest in traditional ceremonial music, he managed to strike a precarious balance, introducing drums to his Catholic services in the 1960s and even composing a mass for karimba. Chawasarira's reputation grew steadily; he was invited to Lousville University in the 1990s to represent Zimbabwe at a contemporary composition festival, and his youth ensembles helped popularize Shona mbira music not just at home, but around the world. Today's evangelicals are less tolerant than the Catholic church however, with fundamentalist preachers blaming mbira music for all manner of tragedy. Chawasarira remains undeterred; living in Chitungwiza, he builds matepes and karimbas and tutors children, and "Useza" is a celebration of his years of experience, a way for the maestro to preserve his repertoire for future generations. Recorded at the dead of night, the rest of the township sound asleep, the album reproduces the mesmerizing sound of a Shona ritual by overlaying discrete fractal sequences filled with haunting overtones and buzzing rhythms. Chawasarira works alone, chanting over the weightless polyrhythms to create musical illusions that offer multiple perspectives for listening. It's a technique that's been approached by various minimalist composers and avant-garde explorers in the 20th century and beyond, and Chawasarira goes straight to the source, skillfully substantiating kaleidophony and safeguarding Zimbabwe's heritage.
Shona Mbira Music
The mbira is a family of lamellophones (thumb pianos) whose music has been central to the Shona people for over a thousand years. The instrument is often thought of as a "telephone to the spirits" and thus serves various spiritual and ritualistic purposes. For example, Shona families use the mbira to reach out to their deceased ancestors to seek advice during night-long ceremonies called bira. The mbira is also used to call rain-making spirits in ceremonies known as mukwerera; or to ask healing spirits for medicinal advice through a diviner known as the n'anga. In addition to its strong religious function, the instrument may also be played secularly for personal meditation, group entertainment, or celebrations of all kinds. Shona mbira music is based on cyclical rhythmic and melodic patterns that the musician may improvise upon through variation. Shona mbira pieces do not have a well-defined beginning or ending; instead, they are considered an ever-running stream of music that the musician joins as they start playing. The pieces are typically structured into four sections of twelve beat patterns (a structure believed to have influenced the twelve-bar Blues). When multiple mbiras play together, they may not begin at the same part of the cycle and thus create a unique interlocking polyrhythmic pattern that must be held throughout the performance. Pieces traditionally have a leading mbira part (kushaura) and a secondary intertwining part (kutsinhira). Mbira music is also often accompanied by the hosho, a pair of gourd rattles played to keep the meter, hand clapping patterns called makwa that are supplied by the villagers. Finally, the mbira players or others present may sing over the mbira in one of the various traditional singing styles, depending on the context. An mbira consists primarily of a hardwood soundboard (gwariva) and an assortment of hammered metal lamellae. For increased volume during rituals and public performances, the mbira is often wedged inside a gourd resonator (deze) using a small stick (mutsigo). A custom assortment of shells, bottle caps, and metal beads is placed around the instrument to give it a characteristic buzz. Each mbira has its own buzz identity, which can vary from soft to abrasive, and establishes a unique mood and feeling. The most common mbira variant is the mbira dzavadzimu, but numerous other variants exist among Shona people and throughout Zimbabwe. During the 19th and 20th centuries, traditional Shona mbira music was suppressed by European colonialism as Shonas were converted to Christianity and were told that mbira playing was a satanic practice. In the 1960s, resistance against European occupation arose in Zimbabwe and gave birth to the modernised Chimurenga.
