Dumisani Maraire (1944-1999), known to friends as "Dumi," was a master performer of the mbira, a traditional instrument of the Shona ethnic group of Zimbabwe. He specialized in the form of mbira called nyunga nyunga, as well as the Zimbabwean marimba. In East African music, the mbira (also lkembe) is a gourd-resonated thumb piano, a musical instrument consisting of a wooden board to which staggered metal keys have been attached fitted into a resonator. ... Shona (or ChiShona) is a native language of Zimbabwe; the term is also used to identify those Bantu tribes in Southern Africa who speak one of the Shona languages. ... A modern marimba The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. ...

Maraire taught from 1968 through 1972 at the University of Washington in Seattle, contributing to a flourishing of Zimbabwean music in the United States' Pacific Northwest that continues into the 21st century. The University of Washington, founded in 1861, is a major public research university in the Seattle metropolitan area. ...

Maraire died of a stroke on November 25, 1999 in Zimbabwe.