Musekiwa Chingodza, a Zembabwean mbira player, sat in with Joplin’s very own African band Kufara this week.

“We’ve had Zimbabwean visitors sit in with us before,” said Dr. Joy Dworkin, professor of English and member of Kufara. “But it was a treat to have a mbira player join us.”

To celebrate Chingodza’s visit, Kufara hosted a percussion workshop, performed at the Festival of Friends in Carthage, and danced to Chingodza’s music at his concert Monday in Webster Auditorium.

Kufara, which means “to be joyful” in Shona, grew out of an African dance class taught by Kyla Jones. Jones, who has studied African music and dance since 1984, saw the interest the general public had in African music during Missouri Southern’s Africa Semester.

“I thought an African marimba band in Joplin might fly,” Jones said.

In December 1998, Jones asked her students if they would be interested in playing African music.

Several people came forward and Jones narrowed down the selection to four members: John Whynhausen, Dr. N. Ree Wells, associate sociology professor, Dworkin, and Michael Day, who joined from outside the dance group.

The band uses a number of African instruments, such as the hosho, a shaker instrument whose name means heartbeat, various types of drums, the mbira or “thumb piano,” and marimbas of different sizes. The bass marimba is their largest instrument. It requires a bench as a stand.

Kufara has played a number of venues.

“We’ve played recently before the first performance of “To Kill a Mockingbird” at Stone’s Throw Theatre in Carthage and at a benefit for the Aububon Center at Wildcat Park in Joplin,” Dworkin said. “We play locally, but we have also performed at the International Zimbabwean Music Festival when it was held in Portland, Ore.

We do charge for our services, but often we play benefits for worthy causes.”

“The musical tradition is a very powerful one. I’ve fallen in love with Shona music,” Dworkin said. “I feel that it is a gift to the community. We try to honor the tradition of this music.”

Kufara will be playing for the Cropwalk at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, at the Salvation Army.

The proceeds will go to combat hunger in our area.