Timbila Ta Venancio - Ecos Do Legado: Chopi Timbila Music from Southern Mozambique

We are in the presence of what is probably the Chopi people's greatest cultural expression. What you hear on this recording is nothing less than an outpouring of feeling: joy and resolve, love and defiance. This way of being reaches back beyond recorded memory. Some say that timbila may have emerged around 1800; others argue that it is far older. What is certain is that its rhythms have endured with undiminished vitality to the present day, faithful to their origins and nuances while, at times, embracing the inevitable versatility of an ever-changing musical universe.
The timbila tradition does not depend on formal music schools or conservatories; it is inherited. Its performers are born with it in their blood, passed down by those who gave them life. From a very early age, they begin to handle the instruments and carry them throughout their lives in a tireless pursuit of perfection. This is why the great timbila masters are inimitable, almost beyond reach.
Yet all the rhythmic energy bubbling through this recording is more than a ritual. It follows a cadence that begins within the family. The group’s members are all brothers. That is hardly surprising: they are the sons of the celebrated Venâncio Mbande, a true master of timbila. An icon and the focal point of timbila festivals through 2007, he died on 25 June 2015, leaving us the legacy presented here.