MBIRA Musicians Fund

The MBIRA Musicians Fund enables donors to make a tax-deductible donation, of which 100% is distributed to over 220 Zimbabwean traditional musicians MBIRA works with throughout Zimbabwe. Many of these musicians live as subsistence farmers in villages. For some of them, this is the only cash they have during the year to meet essential expenses of their families. Because the donations are combined with the musicians' CD royalties, they generate more self-repect than many other types of charity, as musicians feel proud that their music attracts such support. Note that when a village musician reports that he/she bought livestock, this is the equivalent of a savings account, as there are no banks in most of rural Zimbabwe.

In January and February, 2010, MBIRA distributed $11,600 in donations from private individuals and the Zimbabwean Music Festival ("Zimfest"), together with $10,000 in CD royalties. We then went to Zimbabwe and video-recorded many of the musicians talking about what they will do with the money (or have done with funds they received in past years). We hope you enjoy a few of these videos we have shared below (filmed by Kaia Wong, edited by Ray Guillette and Erica Azim). We thought you would enjoy "meeting" some of the musicians helped by your CD purchases and donations. We hope you will continue to help MBIRA to support endangered traditional music in Zimbabwe.

To make a tax-deductible donation by CHECK or MONEY ORDER, make it out to MBIRA and send to MBIRA, P.O. Box 7863, Berkeley, CA 94707-0863, USA. Put "Musicians Fund" on the "For" line.

To make a tax-deductible donation by CREDIT CARD, PAYPAL, or from a BANK ACCOUNT:

You can also add a donation to your MBIRA catalog order.