Chiwoniso was born in Washington DC in 1976. She is a singer, songwriter and exponent of Zimbabwean mbira music. As the daughter of famed mbira master and ethnomusicologist, Dumiani Maraire, she learned to play the mbira and marimba at a very early age and growing up in a family surrounded by music, Chiwonsiso naturally grew into music. Her first studio recording was at the age of nine with her parents, an album called 'Tichazomuwona'. By the age of eleven, Chiwoniso was performing with her father and siblings, in their family mbira group Mhuri ya Maraire, and participated in her father's marimba group Minanzi III.  In 1990, Chiwoniso's family went back to Zimbabwe, where she became a popular figure in the local music scene as lead vocalist in the hip hop group A Peace of Ebony.

In 1997 Chiwoniso released her first solo album, ‘Ancient Voices’ which earned her the prestigious Radio France International ‘Best New Artist’ award. She worked with many Zimbabwean artists in different groups such as Andy Brown and The Storm, Women’s Voice, The Collaboration (with Bushi Ncube, Adam Chisvo and Peter ‘Mashasha’ Mujuru and toured Europe and Southern Africa with different groups. She released the acoustic album “Timeless” and as a member of the Zimbabwean group ATOM, she recorded ‘Hupenyu Kumusha’.  In 2007 she released her first internationally released solo album ‘Rebel Woman’. Chiwoniso has participated in many projects on behalf of women’s rights.

GENRE: Afro pop, Afro Soul, R&B, Roots
COUNTRY: Zimbabwe, USA

RECORDLABEL: Ganja Productionz
WEBSITE: http://www.myspace.com/chiwoniso