Polyphony Marimba

PETER SWING comes from a long line of professional musicians. His Grandmother, Yvonne Dapron Hauser, was an opera singer in New York City; her Grandson (Swing’s Cousin) was the late great Tim Hauser, founder and bass voice for The Manhattan Transfer. Swing’s Grandfather, Dolf Swing, taught voice at Julliard in New York, accompanied on piano by Swing’s Grandmother, Sigrid Swing. The deep currents of Western musical experience eventually mingled in Swing with the ancient rhythms and meaning of southern African music; these twin influences underpin all of Polyphony Marimba’s music. Swing started playing music seriously at the age of 14, focusing on Joplin's ragtime on the piano, as well as J.S. Bach. He also studied folk, pop and classical guitar before discovering the marimba music of Zimbabwe after college. A graduate of the London School of Economics, with a degree in Political Philosophy, Swing was headed for law school in 1987 when he was invited to join Boka Marimba in Portland, Oregon. The group was immersed in a series of workshops with the master musician from Zimbabwe, the late Dr. Dumisani Maraire ("Dumi"). Following several months reflecting on what path to take in life, Swing chose to follow the seductive muse of African music and has never looked back. Within three years he was directing Boka Marimba, arranging traditional Zimbabwean songs, and writing his own for the eight-piece marimba ensemble. He was fortunate to develop a personal relationship with Dumi when they joined in forming an importing business to bring Zimbabwean mbiras ("thumb pianos") for sale in American music stores. During this collaboration, for which Dumi wrote a lesson book teaching how to play the mbira, Swing gained deep lessons on the life of a Zimbabwean teacher and performer. Together with the group workshops with Boka, Swing formed a solid understanding of how to play and teach and compose African style, by ear. He acquired a core repertoire of Zimbabwean songs and earned Dumi’s public endorsement as a marimba teacher. In 1992 Swing formed another band in Portland with Dumi's ex-wife, MaiChi Nhemarundwe. He experimented with electric guitar, as MaiChi was into the Afro-Pop style. From her he gained a more intuitive knowledge of the music, learning how to connect emotionally with it, and convey that feeling to an audience. It was a short-lived band, but invaluable to Swing's development as a musician. MaiChi was an important influence in another way, by bringing Afro-pop legends to Portland. Swing had the honor of playing mbira at a private party for Thomas Mapfumo’s fiftieth birthday, and Boka Marimba opened for the great Fela Kuti, and the hottest band from Zimbabwe in the 90’s, The Bhundu Boys. In 1996 Swing moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico at the invitation of his friend Dan Pauli, to start a professional band based on Zimbabwean music, Jaka. With a wife and two young children, Swing was unable to keep up with life on the road and focused instead on building marimbas and teaching marimba music. Several groups emerged between 1997 and 2007 in Santa Fe under Swing’s guidance: Tatenda Youth Marimba Ensemble; Kumusha Women's Marimba Ensemble; and Trillium Marimba Ensemble, the Swing family band. (Ande Marimba Band— one of the finest marimba groups yet formed in the United States— was founded by members of Tatenda.) Peter Swing has made a career of marimba music since 1996. He custom builds Zimbabwean style marimbas, filling orders from Alaska to Virginia. He teaches classes in Santa Fe as well as traveling around the country giving workshops to marimba groups. And he runs Polyphony Marimba, now his principal professional endeavor, touring, composing and recording the brilliant music born in Zimbabwe and expressed through the prism of his musical heritage. KARYNA SWING~ As a young girl growing up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Karyna Swing was completely entranced by a female maraca player named Denise Brissey. Enamored with the vocal harmonies that surrounded her in her community and in the media, she has sung throughout her life. One of her greatest desires is to sing with others. She has been in love with African music and dance since 1995. Alongside an illustrious and industrious career as a theater lighting designer and technician for thirty years, she avidly went to African dance classes with Elise Gent, and with numerous phenomenal teachers at Tumbuka and Bantu Camp in Santa Fe. She joined Kumusha Women's Marimba Ensemble in 1998, and also played in Trillium, a nationally touring group. She has had the gracious honor of studying balafon with Lansana Kouyate, djembe with Fred Simpson, and gumboot dance and Ndebele choral singing with Lucky Moyo. Since 2012 Karyna has devoted herself full-time to Polyphony Marimba, playing in the band, marrying the director, and learning the intricacies of booking four national tours. When not playing marimba and singing, she enjoys studying science and looking for signs of life in the universe beyond our home planet. Namaste! Classically influenced African music on marimba. Regularly touring North America and creating new albums, Polyphony Marimba brings a big acoustic sound with intricate vocal harmonizing on spiritual themes.