Mbira

Mbira (pronounced m-BEE-ra , /əmˈbɪərə/) are a family of

musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe.
Mbira
They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with
attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in
the hands and plucking the tines with the thumbs (at minimum),
the right forefinger (most mbira), and sometimes the left forefinger.
Musicologists classify it as a lamellaphone, part of the plucked
idiophone family of musical instruments. In Eastern and Southern
Africa, there are many kinds of mbira, often accompanied by the
hosho, a percussion instrument. It is often an important instrument
played at religious ceremonies, weddings, and other social
gatherings. The "Art of crafting and playing Mbira/Sansi, the
finger-plucking traditional musical instrument in Malawi and
Zimbabwe" was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020.[1]
Mbira dzavadzimu
A modern interpretation of the instrument was commercially
Other instrument
produced and exported by ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey from
the late 1920s onward, popularising similar instruments outside of Other names finger harp, gourd
Africa. Tracey's design was modeled after the mbira nyunga piano, ikembe,
nyunga and named 'Kalimba' after an ancient predecessor of the kalimba, kilembe,
mbira family of instruments. likembe, likimba,
marimbula, mbla,
Mbira, known as the Kalimba, became popularized in the 1960s
sansa, sansu,
and early 1970s largely due to the successes of such musicians as
sanza, thumb
Maurice White of the band Earth, Wind and Fire and Thomas
Mapfumo in the 1970s[2] These musicians included mbira on stage piano, timbrh,
accompanying modern rock instruments such as electric guitar and zanzu
bass, drum kit, and horns. Their arrangements included numerous Classification Lamellophone,
songs directly drawn from traditional mbira repertoire. Other Plucked Idiophone
notable influencers bringing mbira music out of Africa are:
Hornbostel– 122.1
Dumisani Maraire, who brought marimba and karimba music to
the American Pacific Northwest; Ephat Mujuru, who was one of Sachs (Plucked
the pioneer teachers of mbira dzavadzimu in the United States; and classification idiophone)
the writings and recordings of Zimbabwean musicians made by Timbre clear, percussive,
Paul Berliner. Claire Jones, a student of Dumisani Maraire in the chimelike
1970s, has been playing and teaching mbira for more than 40
Volume low
years. She is also a Festival Coordinator for Zimfest, a
Zimbabwean Music Festival held annually in North America that Attack fast
offers many opportunities to learn and listen to mbira.[3][4] Decay moderate

Joseph H. Howard and Babatunde Olatunji have both suggested Playing range
that mbira (and other metal lamellaphones) are thoroughly African,
being found only in areas populated by Africans or their Varies, see Tuning

low to medium
descendants.[5] Similar instruments were reported to be used in Okpuje, Nsukka area of the south eastern
part of Nigeria in the early 1900s.[6]

Contents
History
Acoustics
Rhythm
Tuning
Specific tunings
Variants
Mbira dzavadzimu
Mbira Nyunga Nyunga
Njari mbira
Nhare
Mbira matepe
Outside Africa
In the diaspora
Hugh Tracy
Related instruments
In popular culture
Players
See also
Citations
General references
External links

History
Various kinds of plucked idiophones and lamellaphones have
existed in Africa for thousands of years. The tines were originally
made of bamboo but over the years metal keys have been
developed. These types of instrument appear to have been invented
twice in Africa: a wood or bamboo-tined instrument appeared on
the west coast of Africa about 3,000 years ago, and metal-tined
lamellophones appeared in the Zambezi River valley around 1,300
years ago.[7] Metal-tined instruments traveled all across the
continent, becoming popular among the Shona of Zimbabwe (from
which the word mbira comes) and other indigenous groups in
Zimbabwe and Mozambique.[8] The mbira was differentiated in its A Zimbabwean mbira dza vadzimu
physical form and social uses as it spread. Kalimba-like instruments
came to exist from the northern reaches of North Africa to the
southern extent of the Kalahari Desert, and from the east coast to the west coast, though many or most
groups of people in Africa did not possess mbiras. There were thousands of different tunings, different note
layouts, and different instrument designs, but there is a hypothetical tuning and note layout of the original
metal-tined instrument from 1,300 years ago, referred to as the 'kalimba core'.[9][10]

In the mid 1950s mbira instruments were the basis for the development of the kalimba, a westernized
version designed and marketed by the ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey, leading to a great expansion of its
distribution outside Africa.[11][12]

Acoustics
Lamellophones are instruments which have little tines, or "lamellae", which are played by plucking. Unlike
stringed instruments or air-column instruments like flutes, the overtones of a plucked lamella are
inharmonic, giving the mbira a characteristic sound. The inharmonic overtones are strongest in the attack
and die out rather quickly, leaving an almost pure tone. When a tine is plucked, the adjacent tines also
create secondary vibrations that increase the harmonic complexity of an individual note.[13]

Rhythm
Mbira music, like much of the sub-Saharan African music traditions is based on cross-rhythm. An example
from the kutsinhira part of the traditional mbira dzavadzimu piece "Nhema Musasa" is given by David
Peñalosa, who observes that the left hand plays the ostinato "bass line," while the right hand plays the
upper melody. The composite melody is an embellishment of the 3:2 cross-rhythm (also known as a
hemiola).[14]

Tuning
It is common on African mbira and other lamellophones to have the
lowest notes in the center with higher notes to the far left and the
far right—this is an ergonomic nicety, in that the thumb can pivot
such that all the tines are easy to reach. However, traditional
African tunings use notes that do not lie on the grid of the Western
tempered scale, and traditional mbira note layouts are often
idiosyncratic, sometimes with adjacent tines making part of a scale,
but then an odd note thrown in that defies the pattern.

Historically, mbira tunings have not mapped exactly onto Western

Tuning chart for the Tracey 15-note scales; it is not unusual for a seven-note sequence on a mbira to be
alto kalimba. "stretched" over a greater range of frequencies than a Western
octave and for the intervals between notes to be different from
those in a Western scale. Tunings have often been idiosyncratic
with variations over time and from one player to another. A mbira key produces a rich complex of
overtones that varies from one instrument to another depending on its maker's intentions and accidents of
fabrication, such that some instruments simply sound better when some notes of a familiar tuning are
pushed.[15] With the increased popularity of the mbira dzavadzimu in North America, Europe, and Japan in
recent decades, Zimbabwean mbira makers have tended to tune their instruments more uniformly for
export, but much variation is still found among mbira in their homeland.[16]

Tunings vary from family to family referring to relative interval relationships and not to absolute pitches.
The most common tuning played throughout Zimbabwe and among non-Zimbabwean mbira players
worldwide is Nyamaropa, similar to the western Mixolydian mode.[17][18][19][20][21] Names may also vary
between different families; Garikayi
Tirikoti has developed a "mbira
orchestra" that has seven different
tunings, each starting on a different
interval of the same seven-note
scale, where it is possible to play all
instruments in a single
performance. [22] The seven tunings
that Garikayi uses are: Bangidza,
Nyabango, Nhemamusasa,
Chakwi, Taireva, Mahororo, and
mbira dzavadzimu tuning and key layout
Mavembe (all of which are also
names of traditional songs save for
* Same color keys are the same notes (usually octaves)
Mavembe and Nyabango). The
* Key “1” is the lowest note, ascending to the highest note key “23”
closest to what is commonly named
* Key “2” is often only found on the mavembe tuning
"Nyamaropa" is his * Some mbira have extra keys (e.g. extra “17” on left side, or higher
"Nhemamusasa" tuning.[23][24] notes on the right beyond key “23” are most common)
* Note intervals can vary, but all the octaves are divided into a
heptatonic scale, many being diatonic or at least nearly diatonic
Specific tunings
* This diagram does not represent every mbira dzavadzimu, but does
represent the most common layout
Common names for tunings are:
* The key numbering and color codes portrayed here are arbitrary and
simply to communicate the layout (not traditional approach)
Nyamaropa (close to
Mixolydian mode)
(considered the oldest and
most representative in Shona culture) It emphasizes togetherness through music, creating
polyrhythms through having two Mbira players at once, having singing styles accompany an
Mbira such as Huro (High emotional notes that are at the top of a singer's range) &
Mahon'era (a soft breathy voice at the bottom of the singer's range) or both elements. A
single Mbira is considered incomplete for a performance.[25]

0:00 / 0:00

Dambatsoko (close to Ionian mode), played by the Mujuru family. The name refers to their
ancestral burial grounds.
Dongonda, usually a Nyamaropa tuned mbira with the right side notes the same octave as
the left (an octave lower than usual).
Katsanzaira (close to Dorian mode), the highest pitch of the traditional mbira tunings. The
name means "the gentle rain before the storm hits".

0:00 / 0:00

Mavembe (also: Gandanga) (close to Phrygian mode), Sekuru Gora claims to have invented
this tuning at a funeral ceremony. The mourners were singing a familiar song with an
unfamiliar melody and he went outside the hut and tuned his mbira to match the vocal lines.
Other mbira players dispute that he invented it.

0:00 / 0:00

Nemakonde (close to Phrygian mode), same musical relationship as the mavembe, but the
nemakonde tuning is a very low pitched version.
 0:00 / 0:00

Saungweme (flattened whole tone, approaching seven tone equal temperament).

0:00 / 0:00

Variants

Mbira dzavadzimu

In Shona music, the mbira dzavadzimu ("voice of the ancestors", or

"mbira of the ancestral spirits", national instrument of
Zimbabwe[26]) is a musical instrument that has been played by the
Shona people of Zimbabwe for thousands of years. The mbira
dzavadzimu is frequently played at religious ceremonies and social
gatherings called mapira (sing. "bira"). The mbira dzavadzimu can
be used to play over one hundred songs, such as Kariga mombe.

A typical mbira dzavadzimu consists of between 22 and 28 keys

constructed from hot- or cold-forged metal affixed to a hardwood
soundboard (gwariva) in three different registers—two on the left,
one on the right. Mbira dzavadzimu in a deze.

While playing, the little finger of the right hand is placed through a
hole in the bottom right corner of the soundboard, with the little finger entering from the front of sound
board, and the ring finger and middle finger reaching around the back to stabilize the instrument. This
leaves the thumb and index finger of the right hand open to stroke the keys in the right register from above
(thumb) and below (index finger). The fingers of the left hand stabilize the left side of the instrument, with
most fingers reaching slightly behind the instrument. Both registers on the left side of the instrument are
played with the left thumb. Some mbira possess an extra key in the upper left register which is hit from
below by the left index finger.

Bottle caps, shells, or other objects ("machachara"[27]) are often affixed to the soundboard to create a
buzzing sound when the instrument is played. In a traditional setting, this sound is considered extremely
important, as it is believed to attract ancestral spirits.

During a public performance, an mbira dzavadzimu is frequently placed in a deze (calabash resonator) to
amplify its sound.

The mbira dza vadzimu is very significant in Shona religion and culture, considered a sacred instrument by
the Shona people. It is usually played to facilitate communication with ancestral spirits, bringing the spirit of
the dead back on its homestead.[28] Within the Shona tradition, the mbira may be played with paired
performers in which the kushaura, the caller, leads the performed piece as the kutsinhira, the responder,
"interlocks" a subsequent part.[29] The ritual is known as the Bira. During these all-night ceremonies,
people call upon the spirits to answer questions. The variations of notes in an Mbira piece aid the
participants in going into trance, which in Shona culture aids the spirits in taking over the participant's
body.[30]
Albert Chimedza, director of the Mbira Centre in Harare, has estimated that "there are at most ten thousand
people in the world who play mbira."[2]

Mbira Nyunga Nyunga

The nyunga nyunga which normally has 15 keys, originated from Manicaland where it traditionally played
the entertainment role during social gatherings and commemorations.[28] Jeke (Jack) Tapera introduced the
mbira nyunga nyunga in the 1960s from Tete province of Mozambique to Kwanongoma College of
African music (now United College of Music) in Bulawayo. Two keys were then added to make fifteen
(Chirimumimba, 2007), in two rows. The mbira nyunga nyunga is similar in construction to the mbira
dzavadzimu, but has no hole in the soundboard. Key pitch radiates out from the center, rather than from left
to right.

Zimbabwe's Dumisani Maraire originated mbira nyunga nyunga number notation. The upper row keys
(from left) are keys 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 while the bottom row keys are notated as 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13,
and 15. Maraire brought awareness of this instrument to the United States when he came to the University
of Washington as a visiting artist from 1968 to 1972.

Recently a Midlands State University (Gweru, Zimbabwe) lecturer in the department of music and
musicology has suggested a letter notation; the upper keys as (from first left upper key) E, D, C, F, C, D,
and E and the lower or bottom keys as (from the first lower key) A, G, F, A, F, C, D, and E. But the
Maraire number notation has remained the internationally accepted system (Chirimumimba, 2007).

Njari mbira

Njani mbira has 30 to 32 keys and was also originated from Zimbabwe particularly Masvingo and
Makonde.[28]

Nhare

The nhare has 23 to 24 keys and was originated from Zimbabwe. In the Zimbabwean tradition, nhare was
used for rituals of communicating with Musikavanhu or Nyadenga (God).[28]

Mbira matepe

Mbira matepe which has 26 keys originated from along the borders
of Zimbabwe and Mozambique.[28]

Outside Africa

In the diaspora

The first documentation of Kalimbas in Brazil dates back to 1723

where they are referred to as marimbas (not to be confused with
marimbas).[31] They seem to have faded into obscurity as they A Zimbabwean matepe
didn't make it to the present day, although "modern" Kalimbas now
exist in Brazil.[32]
In Cuba African lamellophones along with the Cajón influenced
the origins of the marimbula, whose history is poorly documented
but is suspected to have originated in eastern Cuba.[33]

Hugh Tracy

The Hugh Tracey kalimbas are tuned diatonically in the key of G.

The arrangement of the notes on the Hugh Tracey kalimba borrows
from the typical scheme with the lowest notes in the center and the
upper notes on the left and the right, with the notes in the ascending
scale alternating strictly right-left and going outwards towards the
two sides.

The diatonic western kalimba tuning which Tracey used was

practical for a worldwide instrument—with hundreds of African
kalimba tunings, the chosen Western standard would maximize the A Kalimba player in Brazil by Eduard
number of people who would immediately connect with the Hildebrandt (1846).
kalimba. The practicality of this note arrangement, with notes going
up the scale in a right-left-right-left progression, is that modal 1-3-5
or 1-3-5-7 chords are made by playing adjacent tines. If chords are
played in the lower octave, the same notes will appear on the
opposite side of the kalimba in the upper octave, which makes it
very easy to simultaneously play a melody in the upper octave and
an accompanying harmony in the lower octave. So, the
arrangement of notes on the Hugh Tracey kalimba (and on virtually
any kalimba that copies the instrument) makes certain complex
musical operations very simple.[34]

Alternative tunings are possible, as the tines of most kalimbas are

easily pushed in and out to sharpen or flatten their pitch. Some
alternative tunings simply change the key of the kalimba, without
changing the note layout scheme. C major is a popular tuning, sold
by multiple manufacturers. Other alternative tunings move the
kalimba to non-modal scales (such as Middle-Eastern scales). Each
note of the kalimba can be tuned independently (unlike a guitar), so
any scale, western or non-western, is possible, and traditional
African scales are still accessible to this modern African instrument.
Composer Georg Hajdu has tuned the Hugh Tracey alto kalimba to An example of a Marimbula in Haiti.
the chromatic steps of the Bohlen–Pierce scale in a piece called Just
Her – Jester – Gesture. The Bohlen–Pierce scale subdivides the
just twelfth into 13 steps.


Hugh Tracey treble kalimba An octagonal mbira of high

craftsmanship which spans two
octaves.

Related instruments

Instruments related to or inspired by the mbira include:

Array mbira, a modern invention consisting of as many as

150 tines configured in a special order based on the circle
of fifths (see Isomorphic keyboard).
Gravikord, an electrified double harp that is a modern kora
and kalimba hybrid, inspired by the cross rhythms of the
mbira. The Gravikord was invented in 1986 by Bob Grawi
an American musician and artist. It is also tuned in the key
of G major/E minor in an extended version of the Hugh Sanza
Tracey kalimba tone layout with a range of 31⁄2 octaves.
Music and playing techniques learned on this kalimba can
be easily transferred and played on the Gravikord.
Guitaret, an electric lamellophone made by Hohner and invented by
Ernst Zacharias, in 1963.
Ikembe, an instrument common among the Hutu of Rwanda, Burundi,
and eastern DR Congo.
Modern kalimba, the mbira inspired instruments of Hugh Tracey.
Named after the original kalimba (ancestor of mbira).
Kisanji among Ngala-speaking people of western DR Congo and
eastern Congo Republic.
Thoom Otieno (also tom, thom or toom), popular in Gambela Region,
in Western Ethiopia on the border of South Sudan.

In popular culture
Signature Series
On May 21, 2020, as part of Zimbabwe Culture Week, Google honoured the Gravikord
mbira with a doodle which included a button allowing users to hear and play the
instrument virtually. The doodle also featured the animated story of a young girl
who learns to play the mbira and inspires a new generation of mbira players after becoming an established
artist as an adult.[35]

Even though it is set in Botswana, the 1980 movie The Gods Must Be Crazy features a character playing
the mbira.[36]

Players

See also
Electric lamellophone
Gravikord
Music of Africa
Polyrhythm

Citations
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_601901&ved=2ahUKEwjoyf30y9XyAhWDQzABHfaRDxIQFnoECCsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0
Nh9ELn1RuZMKnwsNonbEB). www.google.com. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
34. "Chords on the 17-Note Kalimba in C - Kalimba Magic" (https://www.kalimbamagic.com/blo
g/item/chords-on-the-17-note-kalimba-in-c). www.kalimbamagic.com. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
35. Celebrating Mbira (https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-mbira?hl=en)
36. "Gods Must Be Crazy, 1980 song" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuJZa6DWugM).
YouTube. Archived (https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/RuJZa6DWugM)
from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 13 June 2020.

General references
Berliner, Paul (c. 1978). The Soul of Mbira: Music and Traditions of the Shona People of
Zimbabwe. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Fowler, Andy (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-fowler-07546721/) (2020) Discover Mbira :
Ancient Zimbabwean Trance Music (https://gum.co/discover-mbira). Mbira Magic (http://ww
w.mbiramagic.com).
Fowler, Andy (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-fowler-07546721/) (2015) Unlocking Mbira :
Chord Progression and System of Mbira Workbook (https://gum.co/unlockcomplete). Mbira
Magic (http://www.mbiramagic.com).
Gahadzikwa, Fungai; Fowler, Andy (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-fowler-07546721/)
(2016) Traditional Mbira Song Book (https://gum.co/fungai). Mbira Magic (http://www.mbiram
agic.com).
Howard, Joseph H. (1967). Drums in the Americas (https://archive.org/details/drumsinameric
as00howa). New York City: Oak Publications.
Kwenda, Forward; Fowler, Andy (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-fowler-07546721/) (2019)
Learn to Play Mbira : Traditional Songs and Improvisation (https://gum.co/learnmbira). Mbira
Magic (http://www.mbiramagic.com).
Mutwa, Credo Vusa'mazulu (1969). My people: the incredible writings of Credo Vusa'mazulu
Mutwa. Johannesburg: Blue Crane Books.
Tracey, Andrew (1970). "The Matepe Mbira Music of Rhodesia" (http://rattletree.com/The_Ma
tepe_Mbira_Music_of_Rhodesia.pdf) (PDF). Journal of the African Music Society. 4 (4): 37–
61. doi:10.21504/amj.v4i4.1681 (https://doi.org/10.21504%2Famj.v4i4.1681) (Note: this
article is the original source of the Matepe song Siti, as played by Zimbabwean Marimba band
Musango.)
Tracey, Hugh (1961). The evolution of African music and its function in the present day.
Johannesburg: Institute for the Study of Man in Africa.
 Tracey, Hugh (1969). "The Mbira class of African Instruments in Rhodesia (1932)". African
Music Society Journal. 4 (3): 78–95. doi:10.21504/amj.v4i3.1439 (https://doi.org/10.21504%
2Famj.v4i3.1439)
Warner Dietz, Betty; Olatunji, Michael Babatunde (1965). Musical Instruments of Africa; Their
Nature, Use, and Place in the Life of a Deeply Musical People (https://archive.org/details/mu
sicalinstrumen00diet). New York City: John Day Company.

External links
Mbira.org (http://mbira.org), "the non-profit organization devoted to Shona mbira music",
based in Berkeley, California
sympathetic-resonances.org (https://sympathetic-resonances.org): A free online platform
featuring computer-generated playback and visualisation of mbira transcriptions, with the
long-term goal of cultural preservation.
MbiraMagic.Com (http://mbiramagic.com) Mbira Education Website
Mbira.Online (https://www.mbira.online) : Mbira Masters Video and Notation Archive
Zimfest.org (https://zimfest.org/), a Zimbabwean Music Festival held annually in North
America that offers many opportunities to learn and listen to mbira.

Archived Link - Mbira.co.zw (https://web.archive.org/web/20190824155712/http://mbira.co.zw/), "A

community of mbira players, researchers, makers & lovers, for the enhancement of the Mbira, music &
fashion. Mbira Transfiguration & Permanence", based in Harare, Zimbabwe

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