Joel Laviolette

Joel Laviolette grew up as a musical person and began playing the guitar at the age of 11. During his middle and high school years, he pursued both music and visual arts as his dream, finally settling on music. He heard an mbira for the first time at the age of 18 and instantly fell in love with the music. By the age of 20, he had taught himself much of the mbira repertoire as well as how to build one. He then spent two years traveling around the United States trying to learn from any mbira player he could meet.

After a year at UNT in Denton, Texas studying jazz guitar, Joel dropped out and moved to New Mexico to join the band Jaka to continue his learning of the mbira. For the next two years, Joel played guitar, mbira and marimba with the group. While this was a rewarding experience, Joel had the feeling that he had learned what he could in the US and that he would need to go to Zimbabwe to study with the originators of the music. He has had the privilege of traveling to Zimbabwe multiple times during his career.

Joel has had the joy of performing on stage and/or touring with some of the greatest musicians to come out of Zimbabwe, including Newton Gwara, Stella Chiweshe, Tute Chigamba, Garidziva Chigamba, Ambuya Buelar Dyoko, and David Gweshe. He has also done extensive teaching for students of all ages and is one of the regular teachers for Zimfest-an annual music festival dedicated to Zimbabwean music. Teaching children is one of his passions, and he is always excited to give workshops and demonstrations for children. Joel is regularly asked to teach Zimbabwean styles of guitar, mbira, matepe, and marimba. He is also the only North-American specialist of the Mozambiquen nyanga(panpipe ensemble) and has been honored to share that knowledge with others.