Get your head out of the headlines and dance to the music of Africa.

Now is your chance to move to the music of Zimbabwe, where the lightness of the mbira, the percussive evenness of the hosho, and the diatonic sound of the marimba all collaborate to make your body move.

Conveniently, Zimbabwe’s sound has come to Whidbey Island, thanks to the island’s Rubatano Center and its benefit CD release project. Rubatano Center is a center of learning for traditional and contemporary music from Zimbabwe on marimbas.

The Zimbabwe band, Mbira dzeMuninga, arrived in early May and went right to work with the Rubatano Center’s marimba classes to prepare local musicians for the new CD.

After months of breaking bread together, hard work in the studio and having formed musical bonds among both cultures, the Rubatano Center and Mbira dzeMuninga are ready to release their CD with a concert celebration.

It’s at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 18 at Bayview Community Hall, and everyone is invited.

The album is named “Sungano,” which means “deep unity” in the Zimbabwean Shona language.

“It’s an old word describing a plan to move forward and together with one heart,” explained Dana Moffett, project coordinator and Rubatano Center director.

“It was a promise to unite, no matter what tribe or distance covered. In keeping with that spirit, we decided to make this CD to forge a covenant with our friends from Zimbabwe, Mbira dze Muninga. They have come here with open hearts telling us this unity on the island was supposed to happen,” she said.

Mbira dzeMuninga is a four-piece ensemble featuring vana gwenyambira (master mbira players) Jacob Mafuleni, Micah Munhemo, Tonderai Ndava and Peacheson Ngoshi.

They released their own debut CD, “Muninga,” in April with the help of the Matanho Project, a local nonprofit that seeks to improve the lives of Zimbabwean musicians and their families.

The result, Moffet said, is a deeply moving and danceable collection of songs, in which the gwenyambiras take turns on the various instruments including hosho (shakers), nheketo (lead mbira), dongonda (rhythm mbira) and nhovapasi (bass mbira).

Moffett met and formed a close bond with the families of the musicians in Zimbabwe. It became obvious, she said, that every dollar that could be earned in the United States had a huge impact for the musicians’ large extended families.

“The Sungano CD project was an opportunity to teach the local community about an incredibly rich culture and about its people,” Moffett said.

Everyone on the record contributed equal funds to cover CD production expenses.

Recording engineer Fredde Butterworth donated his time, expertise and recording equipment to the project, designed the CD cover art and saw the project to completion.

Professional photographer Rich Frishman, of Langley, captured the recording sessions and donated his photographs, some of which were used to grace both the front and back covers of the CD.

The Rubatano Center musicians included on the CD include Nzira, Chenjera, Dandaro and Shanduko, who collaborated with Mbira dzeMuninga.

The CD has more than 30 Whidbey Island musicians on it who have earmarked the proceeds from the sales of the CD and concert admission to Mbira dzeMuninga’s families in Zimbabwe.

Having helped produce the first CD ever made at the Rubatano Center, Moffett was proud of the endeavor.

“Too often, Africa is just headlines in the paper without a personal connection. This music is the backbone of the Shona culture, and has sustained them for centuries during hard times.”

Moffett said that she can understand how the music of the Shona culture can empower people in such a way.

“During every performance we are asked, ‘Do you have a CD?’ We now have a CD, and we can proudly say that all funds are continuing to support our friends,” Moffett said.

“The recording sessions and CD met and exceeded our expectations. Rubatano Center is very proud to present this to our Whidbey Island community.”

The concert will feature songs on the “Sungano” album as well as original selections of Mbira dzeMuninga’s, which describe the heart of the Shona culture and their deep traditional roots.

Fresh from their tour in June and July, this will be the final concert of the Zimbabweans on the island.

“The release of this CD is more than a musical collaboration,” Moffett said. “It is a meeting of cultures from opposite sides of the world, building community and friendships.”

Tickets will be available at the door for $10, $5 for students. Children younger than 6 get in free. There will also be a generous family rate available.

For more info, call Moffett at 321-3868 or click here.