Chiwoniso Maraire is a Zimbabwean singer and songwriter. Most of her music falls under the Zimbabwean mbira genre. Chiwoniso is the lead singer for Chiwoniso & Vibe Culture for the past four years.

Chiwoniso was born in Olympia, in Washington state in the U.S.A. Her father, ethnomusicologist Dumisani Maraire, taught marimba and mbira in America between 1972 and 1990. He was also a renowned stage performer along with Chiwoniso's mother, Linda Nemarundwe Maraire.

She learned to play the mbira by four even though women in Zimbabwe were not permitted to play the instrument while she was growing up. Her first recording with her parents, Tichazomuona, was done when she was nine. The mbira, which she calls a large xylophone is known over other parts of Africa as the sanza or kalimba. The particular kind of mbira that she plays is called the knuwga-knuwga, which means brilliance-brilliance. Her music uses contemporary instruments and traditional African instruments such as the mbira.

Chiwoniso is also a member of the multinational all-women band Women’s Voice, whose original members hailed from Norway, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, America, Israel and Algeria.

When she ws fifteen, she met two young hip-hop artists Herbert Schwamborn (actually performing as Metaphysics) and Tony Chihota, and they formed Zimbabwe's first Afro hip-hop group called A Peace of Ebony.
Their debut album, From The Native Tongue in 1992, was quite successful and they won the Best New Group out of Southern Africa award in the Radio France International Discovery contest in 1994. P.O.E.'s entry Vadzimu, a song they composed specifically for the competition, was a potent mixture of the Shona, English and French languages riding over a heavy mbira-laced hip-hop rhythm.

By 1998, Chiwoniso was going solo and she won the Radio France International Discovery Competition in her own capacity and signed a contract with LusAfrica. She recorded her debut album with them, Ancient Voices, which was produced by Keith Farquharson. She then joined Andy Brown & The Storm who she left in 2001 to concentrate on her solo career.

In 2006, Chiwoniso won second place in the World Music category of the International Songwriting Competition. Out of around 15000 entries from 82 countries throughout the world, two songs from her new album reached the semi-finals - one of which, "Rebel Woman'', made it through to the finals and earned her 2nd place.

She has done a huge amount of session work through the years, working with artists from around the world in greatly diverse styles. Chiwoniso has also released an acoustic solo CD, Timeless, with her group Vibe Culture. Chiwoniso is currently at work with Keith Farquharson on a new studio album and just registered her own artist promotion agency: Iwé Productions .

Some of her songs include Kurima, Listen to the breeze, Mai, Nhemamusasa, Madame 20 Cents, Iwai Nesu, Hupenyu Kautendera, Rebel Woman, Mukaranga Aneshanje, Hurombo Mugara Ndega, Chembere Dzemusango, Handimbozorora, Nhemamusasa, Ndofa Ndichibaiwa, Ziva Kwaunobva, etc