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Image of Max Berry holding an mbira

From Zimbabwe to Indonesia: Max Berry’s Musical Journey

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Max Berry has been involved with the Center for World Music (CWM) and its World Music in the Schools program for almost two decades. A passionate and versatile musician, Max has explored a wide range of traditions, studying guitar, mbira, marimba, and gamelan. His deep curiosity and commitment to learning have made him a respected member of the local music community—and a valued addition to the CWM artist roster.

Image of Max Berry playing electric guitar on stageMax’s musical journey began in his teenage years in Ohio with the guitar. It continued through his studies at California State University San Marcos, where he earned a degree in Visual and Performing Arts. There, under the mentorship of music professor Randy Griswold, he was introduced to the traditional Shona music of Zimbabwe—an experience that sparked a lifelong interest in the music of world cultures. This passion led him to study with renowned Zimbabwean mbira masters Forward Kwenda and Cosmas Magaya, as well as other respected gwenyambiras.

After relocating to San Diego, Max quickly became a sought-after performer in the city’s vibrant world music scene. He formed close collaborations with fellow CWM teaching artists Nomsa Burkhardt and Garit Imhoff, eventually becoming a founding member of two ensembles: Izinde and Zimbeat. The latter was nominated for Best World Music Ensemble at the 2013 San Diego Music Awards. Today, Max continues to perform with both groups while also playing guitar for Mokoto, a local Afro-pop band dedicated to Shona music.

His musical exploration didn’t stop there. Inspired by CWM teaching artist Pak Djoko Walujo, Max undertook a serious study of Javanese gamelan and now performs West Javanese gamelan degung with Kembang Sunda, one of the CWM’s Ensembles-in-Residence.

Max Berry playing with Gamelan Kembang Sunda with musicians sitting at their instruments on the stage floor.Known for his calm presence and approachable nature, Max is especially gifted at working with children. He spent several years teaching guitar at America’s Finest Charter School and recently taught mbira for a semester at the San Diego French American School through a World Music in the Schools residency.

Max Berry with Nomsa Burkhart and Friends, on stage following a school assembly programAs a frequent performer in World Music in the Schools assemblies in the San Diego area, Max has introduced thousands of students to the music and cultures of Zimbabwe, South Africa, Java, and beyond, making a lasting impact through the universal language of music.

Watch Max playing mbira with John Hofisi, a colleague from the band Mokoto:

Listen to the album “Messenger” by Mokoto.

Watch Max (center) performing with Kembang Sunda:

 

Mbira

September is Mbira Month

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Celebrating Mbira Month

Mbira Month is a 30-day, global celebration of a Zimbabwean traditional musical instrument called the mbira. Mbira Month provides an international platform for celebrating and sharing traditional spiritual aspects of Zimbabwean Shona culture with all humanity. As both a musical instrument and a type of classical music, mbira is a “telephone to the spirits” associated with centuries-old cultural practices and religious beliefs. It is a vehicle for communicating deep human spirituality, both inside modern Zimbabwe and around the contemporary world.  The Center for World Music celebrates Mbira Month by sponsoring and coordinating a series of events in San Diego and in Japan—lessons, meditations, public concerts, informal presentations, and an informal get-together for mbira players in Southern California. See events here.

—Lewis Peterman, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, School of Music and Dance, San Diego State University

Garit Imhoff, Musician and Storyteller

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The Center for World Music would like to recognize Garit Imhoff for his years of dedication as an outstanding teaching artist in residence for the World Music in the Schools program.

Garit in the Garden

Garit Imhoff is a professional mbira player, teacher, and all-around performer, specializing in storytelling and movement. He is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts and has participated in world music ensembles for over forty-five years. He has studied and performed traditional Zimbabwean music extensively, both in the United States and in Zimbabwe, and has studied the traditional music, puppetry, and cultures of Java and Bali in Indonesia. Mr. Imhoff learned and practiced Zimbabwean music under the tutelage of many great teachers including Ephat Mujuru, Jacob Mafuleni, Stella Chiweshe, Tute Chigamba, Irene Chigamba, and Musekiwa Chingodza.  As one of its cofounders, Mr. Imhoff is an active performing member of Zimbeat, a professional San Diego-based music ensemble that specializes in the traditional and popular music of Zimbabwe.  He is also a performing member of Kembang Sunda, a San Diego-based traditional west Javanese gamelan orchestra.

Zimbabwe DayIn 2013 Mr. Imhoff was awarded a grant through the Artist Outreach Project of the Kenneth A. Picerne Foundation–funding to support teaching children in Encinitas at the Boys & Girls Club of San Dieguito. The Center for World Music partnered with the Picerne Foundation and Ticha Muzavazi, instrument builders and teacher of students with disabilities in Zimbabwe, to develop specially made small-sized Zimbabwean mbiras that could be easily played by young children. The resulting year-long project subsequently developed into Center for World Music classes in public and private primary schools throughout the County of San Diego.

Mbira Students

Combining storytelling, dance, and singing to engage his students, Mr. Imhoff has been using the small-sized mbiras to instruct San Diego K-12 children in the compelling traditions of Zimbabwe. His music classes in the schools are supported by grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the local San Diego community.

Adler plays Khaen

Stirring Sounds from Thailand, Zimbabwe, Iran

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La Jolla Light, February 11, 2016

The Center for World Music’s upcoming Passport to Worlds of Music series has been featured in the La Jolla Light.

CWM’s new executive director, Monica Emery, said she’s looking forward to introducing more people of all ages to the delights of world music. . . . ‘Our Passport concerts take place in an intimate setting, with the musicians actually walking you through their music, giving you special insights and inviting you to interact with them, as if they were in your living room.  You can bring your own wine, and we’ll have some snacks too.’

Read the full article:

La Jolla Light Article

Mbira

The Karimba Mbira of Zimbabwe

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This article is one in a series of reports on the fascinating variety of musical instruments that audience members and students encounter through Center for World Music programs.

MORE INSTRUMENTS
 

The mbira is a hand-held musical instrument that evolved in sub-Saharan Africa. In its many different forms, it is capable of producing both intimate singable melodies for meditation and vigorous percussive rhythms for dance. It can be used to delight and entertain, or it can be used to lend solemnity to religious ceremonies. Made from a small block of wood, with rows of tuned metal strips (lamellae) attached, the mbira naturally produces a subdued soft tone that can be amplified by placing it inside a large hollowed-out calabash gourd resonator (deze).

The mbira can be played as a solo instrument or as part of an ensemble, with other mbiras or with drums (ngoma) or rattle shakers (hosho). When two mbiras are played together, each renders a different but complementary interlocking musical part (kushaura or kutsinhira). As a native-trained teaching artist, I currently teach a type of solo mbira from Zimbabwe—the karimba—in the San Diego K-12 public schools.

— Garit Imhoff, World Music in the Schools Teaching Artist

See the mbira in action on YouTube. Also, San Diego students playing the Zimbabwean karimba.

View Teaching Artist Garit Imhoff in performance with Zimbeat on YouTube.

Events

Image of Samaita Botsa and Erica Azim, each holding an Mbira

Samaita Botsa Duo at La Mesa Library

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Samaita Botsa and Erica Azim will perform a free concert of traditional Shona mbira (“thumb piano”) music of Zimbabwe at La Mesa Library.

‘Samaita’ Vitalis Wilbert Botsa (visiting artist from Zimbabwe) and Erica Azim (Bay Area) share a passion for the most traditional forms of Shona mbira music of Zimbabwe, and enjoy sharing them with the world through concerts, lecture-demonstrations, and hands-on mbira workshops. Both are extremely accomplished mbira players and singers, creating complex waves of sound that seem impossible to produce with only two thumbs, one finger, and this small instrument, deceptively simple in appearance.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience mbira music up close and personal!