the mbira - introduction
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The mbira of the Shona people of Zimbabwe is a musical instrument of ancient origin with rows of hand-forged, tuned metal keys bound to a wooden soundboard. The mbira is often decorated with metal beads, shells or, more recently, bottle caps, which provide a buzzing quality -- an integral part of the music.
The mbira player strokes the ends of the keys with the two thumbs and the right index finger, producing ringing, polyrhythmic tapestries that accompany stories, songs and dance.
Placing the mbira inside a large gourd resonator (deze) amplifies and shapes the sound, allowing it to be heard in group settings and bringing out the mbira's full tone.
Seed-filled gourd rattles called hosho usually accompany the mbira, providing the rhythmic driving beat for both mbira and singing,
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While the mbira can be played solo, mbira music is multi-part music and its full depth comes out when played by two or more mbira players.
Mbira is commonly played by several mbira players, one or more hosho players, and one or more singers (often the mbira players).
Mbira music has played a central role in the religious and everyday life of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. At religious ceremonies the mbira's sound draws the ancestral spirits down to earth, where they possess spirit mediums and participants.
Mbira is a participatory experience. Accompanying the mbira and hosho players you find everyone present participating in the experience — clapping, dancing and singing.
A seemingly simple instrument, the mbira's complex polyrhythmic and polyphonic patterns have a quality and effect that is both profound and impossible to communicate in words. The mbira’s sound has a special presence; one feels the music as much as one hears it. Using words, audio and video we hope to communicate here something of the mbira's beauty and depth.
This website is one person's attempt to contribute a resource for those interested in learning about the mbira of Zimbabwe. I am an American, playing mbira for 15 years and having spent only a few months in Zimbabwe. I hope that this webite will enrich the growing presence of mbira on the internet.
Such a web site can not begin to plumb the depth and complexity of mbira and its spiritual and cultural contexts, but I hope it will inspire you to listen and learn more — and perhaps to begin to play mbira.
While I have done my best to present mbira as helpfully and as accurately as possible, I acknowledge the difficulty in any non-Zimbabwean trying to represent this rich tradition. I hope that where correction or elaboration can improve this resource, those who can help will contribute their expertise and experience (using the contact button). I will in the near future add a discussion forum to facilitate input from those who can contribute to making this website more complete.
Tinotenda,
-Stuart
Stuart Carduner
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