Two Piece Tuesdays presents Piwai

A regular event offering live local music and performance, Taropy with Miss Ginger and delicious cocktails. There is no cover and much magic. 

PIWAI & ZIMBOOAK MYSTICS 

Building up to the upcoming release of her album, Piwai has begun dishing out her catchy, genre fusing melodies along with her mbira (thumb piano from Zimbabwe). This year she is backed up by blend of legendary & seasoned Oakland musicians. Fondly known as the girl with the African thumb piano (mbira instrument), Piwai has been wowing American, and Zimbabwean audiences with her reverberating soulful voice, interlaced with catchy, genre fusing melodies and exotically mystifying sounds.

Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Piwai was exposed to the musical colors of multicultural Southern Africa and gospel influence. She joined the church choir at the age of 10 and wrote and performed her first song at age of 13 while in junior high school. At 19 Piwai left medical school in her native Zimbabwe to pursue a different program & became a biologist in the US. The pull for music proved far too great during her studies. As she puts it “Music is the sum total of my very existence and every action I make manifests in music—the rhythm of my life.” During & after her college years she trained as a jazz vocalist at the Jazz School of Berkeley, with world renowned vocalists and instructors such as Vernon Bush, Raz Kennedy, Maye Cavallaro & Frankye Kelly. Piwai went under the tutelage of maestros & renowned percussionists, Yagbe Onilu and conguero, Butch Haynes. After a nirvana of sorts in 2008, while driving across the US headed to California to “find herself”; Piwai found a new love for the mbira instrument that was to define her musical journey, and with it came a burst of songwriting frenzy, as well as her first of many mbira lessons from Cosmas Magaya, one of Zimbabwe’s premiere mbira maestros.

More info at: http://piwaimusic.com/