A Prodigy's Calling

The coming-of-age story of a master musician in mid-twentieth century colonial Rhodesia as he learns his communitys most cherished art, all while navigating profound social transformation. Ethnomusicologist Paul F. Berliner has been studying Zimbabwean mbira for more than fifty years. When he first arrived in what was then Rhodesia after the nation declared independence from the United Kingdom, he met Cosmas Magaya, a mbira player who would become his teacher and lifelong collaborator. A Prodigys Calling chronicles the early years of Magayas life, documenting the master mbira players journey from child prodigy to established expert. As a child, Magaya was immersed in mbira music through his fathers work as a healer and spirit medium. As Magaya grew, so too did his world; his performances extended beyond the family compound as his skill and knowledge increased, bringing him into contact with a society fraught with decolonial conflict. Following Magayas childhood, readers will learn how his upbringing guided his journey through the communitys social networks and how his early sensibilities, proclivities, and talents shaped his development. At the same time, his deepening engagement with music and the ancestors was affected by overlapping tensions between Shona cosmology and Christian ideology, rural and urban lifestyles, and the escalating African nationalist struggle and the white supremacist state. While Magayas story reflects profound social changes in the nation, it is also a story of musical apprenticeship. Readers following Magayas discovery of ever finer details in the musics richly layered patterns will enhance their ability to hear mbira musics forms, variations, and sonic qualities. Linocut illustrations by South African artist Lucas Bambo bring the narrative to life, and Berliners spirited storytelling is accompanied by QR codes that take readers directly to recordings of music as Magaya learns it. Appendices for musicians interested in learning or improving their mbira playing complement the story of Magayas early life. Inviting the reader into the very tradition it recounts, the book offers intimate insights into the relationships among music, Shona cosmology, and colonial politics in everyday life.