Chartwell Dutiro's mbira playing takes the listener direct to the heart of his homeland Zimbabwe which is also the country of origin of the mbira itself. Right from the young age of 4 years Chartwell began to play this ancient instrument. He and his brother and teacher would often play mbira all night, calling the ancestral spirits for guidance, as has been done in Zimbabwe over centuries. Mbira music has played a very important but changing role in Zimbabwe’s recent history. The playing of mbira was banned by missionaries in colonial Rhodesia as they wrongly associated it with devil worship. During the Chimurenga liberation struggle in the 1970s mbira was crucial to politicising and encouraging people as it used hidden messages in Shona metaphor. In the 1980s popular and traditional mbira music took on a new symbolism of the independent nation of Zimbabwe.
As a teenager Chartwell moved to the capital, Harare, and became saxophonist with the Salvation Army band. A little later, in 1986, he joined the world-famous band Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited. Touring the world for eight years with that band, he was their arranger, mbira player and saxophonist. Since 1994 Chartwell has been based in Britain where he teaches and performs mbira.
Chartwell is very involved in cross-cultural endeavours such as Ingoma, a company that promotes African music projects. He collaborated with refugee musicians from all over Africa in another significant project, the anniversary celebrations of the UNHCR.
Chartwell has academic qualifications in music, including a degree in Ethnomusicology from SOAS in London where he also taught for many years. Chartwell gets chances to tour in Britain and worldwide, for example in 2001 he went on a UK WOMAD tour with the Drummers of Burundi and Tananas. Then in 2002 Chartwell was at the WOMAD festivals in Singapore, Australia and also Reading where he conducted a workshop. Chartwell composed and plays the music for Fraser Grace's 2005 play 'Breakfast with Mugabe' showing at London's Soho