Mbira dzaSoko
Mbira dzaSoko is committed to the art of playing and teaching mbira music.
We are available for performances and workshops in your area and look forward to working with you!
Artistic Director, Mbira dzaSoko
Salani Wamkanganise is a Zimbabwean mbira maker and player, teacher, and cultural ambassador, who now resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. After performing, recording and touring nationally and internationally, Wamkanganise moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, California, and continues to build mbira, teach, and perform. He has worked with The KTO Project, PIWAI, and heads the group Mbira dzaSoko with his solid bass singing and rhythmical mbira playing.
When asked about making mbira instruments, Salani stated in an interview: “The art of making the mbira instrument requires persistence for perfection, precision, attention to detail, mindfulness, a sense of beauty and commitment. There is a mixture of three trades in one, carpentry, metal fabrication, and a musical soul; thus, mbira making falls between art and engineering.”
Music, Music Educator, Manager
San Francisco Bay Area native Kelly Takunda Orphan is a musician, music educator, band leader and organizer who has been performing for decades, often collaborating with artists from Zimbabwe. In 1994, Orphan studied ethnomusicology at the University of Zimbabwe, and performed and toured with Mhembero Dance Company. From 1998-2001, she toured nationally and internationally with groups like Keith Terry and Crosspulse, Mutama, and Kotoja. Orphan started The KTO Project in 2004 and has recorded and performed in the Bay Area and beyond. Orphan is currently finishing a new collaborative album called “Mafaro eZimbabwe,” due out in 2022. Orphan is also teamed up with Salani Wamkanganise’s ensemble Mbira dzaSoko, which is an acoustic ensemble committed to sharing mbira music.
