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- Permanent Link:
- http://digital.soas.ac.uk/SOAS000051/00001
Subjects
- Subjects / Keywords:
- Mbira music ( LCSH )
- Spatial Coverage:
- Africa -- Zimbabwe
- Coordinates:
- -20 x 30
Notes
- General Note:
- 1 of 8 audio tracks
- General Note:
- The title Nhemamusasa means “to build a shelter”. The lyrics at the beginning of the song echo the title, while later we hear a second line, pidigori waenda, “the somersaulter is gone”. This is a metaphor, announcing that a trickster has died; put more simply, this is a song of celebration. -- The featured instrument, the mbira, is perhaps the most common and widely known traditional instrument of Zimbabwe. It is made of approximately 22 metal keys secured on a piece of wood and stroked by the two thumbs and the right index finger. Buzzing devices, such as shells and bottle caps, are placed near the base of the mbira to provide a percussive rattling sound. To increase the soft sound, the mbira is played inside a large hollow calabash resonator called a deze. When this music is performed in Zimbabwe everyone would participate by singing, humming, dancing, drumming or clapping. Here two seed-filled gourds, hosho, provide the pulse and rhythmic framework while chidzimba drums offer reinforcement. -- Mbira music usually has two contrapuntal parts. The first part is called the kushaura, which means to lead. The second part, and any additional part, is called the kutsinhira, the answer or following part. In this performance, the musicians play seven distinct parts. The interlocking patterns which arise create a dense polyphony and complex polyrhythm, two characteristic features of mbira music. Mbira music is vocal, and kudeketera is the term given to sung poetry. -- The mbira used in this recording were made by Chris Mhlanga, Thomas Gora Wadharwa and Chaka Chawasarira.
- General Note:
- Copyright 1998. SOAS University of London
- General Note:
- VIAF (name authority) : Spirit Talk Mbira (Musical group) : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/143467684
- General Note:
- Funded in part by a grant from the Arts & Humanities Research Council of the United Kingdom
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- SOAS University of London
- Rights Management:
- All applicable rights reserved by the source institution and holding location.
- Resource Identifier:
- SOASIS CD 01 ( SOAS Information Systems number )
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