I badly felt that I needed a direct source to what it all meant. When that happens, you should concentrate only on sound. When I am backstage getting ready to play, that's what I do. I sit and meditate on only sounds I'm hearing. I've remembered it a lot since then, when I've been having a hard time settling down at concerts . . .
C oncentrate only on sound. . . .
With the interview underway, I went after the translation question. At the concert, I said, I had felt a little left out because I didn't understand the words she was singing. The Shona people have been in Southern Africa for generations. They communicate by possessing people at a bira ceremony, and speaking through their mouths. What calls the spirits up is the playing of the mbira.