As a young child in Zimbabwe, Irene Chigamba learned to play the mbira from her parents. Also known as a "thumb piano," the mbira features plucked metal keys mounted on a wood soundboard set inside a calabash gourd resonator, which produces entrancingly melodic music with invigorating polyphony and polyrhythms. Having mastered mbira, Irene went on to study marimba, singing, dance, and drumming, before being invited to join the National Dance Company, a government group showcasing Zimbabwean musical culture abroad. Today Irene is lead singer as well as mbira player in the Mhembero Ensemble, a family group led by her father, mbira virtuoso Tute Chigamba.

Berkeley's Erica Azim fell in love with Shona mbira music when she first heard it at the age of 16. In 1974, she became one of the first Americans to study mbira in Zimbabwe, and her teachers have included many of Zimbabwe's top mbira masters past and present, including Forward Kwenda, with whom she has appeared on the Freight stage. Erica currently records, performs, and leads mbira workshops throughout the U.S. and directs the non-profit organization MBIRA, which provides financial support to Zimbabwean mbira players and instrument makers.