About Wembada

Wembada is a name he was given during his stay with traditional healers in Zimbabwe. Since he did not know his totem, he was given one which the healers found out. Mbada means leopard in chishona which is the most widely spoken language in Zimbabwe. The prefix we means of, in the sense, of the people with leopard in their ancestral lineage. He does not know where they got to know that he is of the leopard clan, possible from their dreams or their great knowledge from ancestral spirits.

The name his parents gave him is Bjorn Norrgard. Bjorn is bear in English. He was born in Sweden and was reborn with a hunting spirit in Zimbabwe which give him the power to play mbira. He have been staying in Zimbabwe for more than 7 years. He got inspired to travel through dreams while in Sweden. He sold all his belonging in the early 90ties and traveled overland for 4 month to reach Zimbabwe.

He did not know anything about mbira before coming to Zimbabwe. While learning about a totally different way of living in southern Africa, than the industrialized way in Europe. He was passing through a remote rural area of  Zimbabwe and was invited to a spiritual healing ceremony which lasted for 3 days and nights. During the nights from early evenings and late mornings there was nonstop dance, song, drumming, hand clapping, shakers and mbira playing. There was a lot of people from the neighborhood taking part and all participated with full power. There was plenty food and traditional home brewed beer.

The most important part of the bira ceremony was the healers and their ability to let ancestral spirits use their bodys as a medium to speak through. During the ceremony when the vibe was high, ancestral spirits wanted to come. They stopped the dance and prepared for the ancestral spirit to feel comfortable to tell as much as possible. The mbira was still played most of the time to keep the atmosphere alive. The ancestral spirits told how to heal peoples problems and making physical tests on other healers who was still learning about their powers. They also told some that they have spirits with them that wanted to be recognized.

Wembada started to play mbira after that experience. Now he play for people to make them happy and for healing. Since music is generally seen to entertain and make people happy that is healing in it self. Most of the time he play for people that just like to hear nice music. When he get the chance to play at ceremonies he really appreciate that.

He is playing on stage with groups, solo and participate in CD recordings. He make workshops in schools, for groups and individuals who wants to learn more about mbira music.