Mbira Music of Zimbabwe
Beauler Dyoko & Cosmas Magaya  


The mbira (mm - bee - ra) is a musical instrument of ancient origin with rows of hand-forged, tuned, metal keys bound to a wooden soundboard. The free end of the keys are stroked and plucked with the thumbs and one forefinger to produce ringing, polyrhythmic tapestries that accompany stories, songs and dance.

For centuries the Shona people, a group which forms the vast majority of the population of Zimbabwe, and extends into Mozambique, have made mbira ensembles an integral part of celebrations, ceremonies and everyday life

Mbira pervades all aspects of Shona culture, both sacred and secular. Its most important function is to communicate with the spirits of deceased ancestors and tribal guardians during all-night ceremonies (mapira).

The mbira  

Zimbabwe's mbira dzavadzimu consists of 22 to 28 carefully shaped and sized metal keys (lamellae) mounted on a hardwood soundboard (gwariva) that acts as a first level amplifier. The metal keys are mounted to form three registers, ergonomically arranged to facilitate playing with both thumbs and one forefinger.

A metal plate, to which of metal, bottle caps or shells are attached, is attached to the front of the sound board. These rattling pieces produce a buzzing sound when the keys are plucked which varies from a soft hiss to a tambourine-like sound. Unlike western music where a buzzing sound in considered distortion, and therefore undesirable, the mbira's buzzing sound is an integral and necessary part of the music. For the listener, the buzz "tunes out" other stimuli and allows the listener to hear the mbira rhythms. The buzz adds depth and context to the clear tones of the mbira keys, and may be heard as whispering voices, singing, tapping, knocking, wind or rain.
For amplification the mbira is often wedged into a hollowed-out gourd (deze), which resonates and enriches the mbira's sound. The deze is usually strung with bottle caps or shells that buzz snare-like in sympathy with the vibrations of plucked keys.

Plucking the mbira's metal keys produces a range of sounds. Along with the vibrations of the bottle caps, the keys of the mbira tend to produce very prominent overtones resulting in various layers of rhythmic accents and inherent melodies. Mbira players often report that the mbira sounds like more than one instrument being played at once.

 

Mbira making and tuning  

Mbira making techniques and technologies continue to evolve in Zimbabwe. The tunings, playing techniques, construction tools and materials of today reflect both reflect tradition and available resources.

Although the metal keys of the mbira were originally smelted directly from rock containing iron ore, they are now made from sofa springs, bicycle spokes, car seat springs, and other recycled steel materials.

While each instrument has a range of just over three octaves, the tuning of the mbira is not fixed across time and space, and so the relationship between the intervals in any sequence of keys is variable. Some of the mbira tuning systems are given a general formal designation such as gandanga, nyamaropa or dambatsoko tunings, while others seem to be unique to a particular performer or group of performers. Tunings may vary both in interval relationship between keys and in pitch, ranging from high to very deep.

 

Mbira music  

A mbira performance can include two, three or more mbiras accompanying layers of spirited singing punctuated by the rhythmic shaking of hosho (seed-filled rattles made from dried gourds) and snycopated handclapping

Usually cycling in 12-, 36- or 48-pulse patterns, Shona mbira songs elaborate a seemingly endless number of variations around a basic harmonic shape, shifting rhythms and melodies at ever-changing places in the cycle.

An mbira piece consists of a basic cyclical pattern which includes numerous intertwined melodies, often with contrasting rhythms. The extensive possibilities for rhythmic and melodic variation render each performance unique. When two mbiras are played together, the interlocking parts result in rich polyphony and polyrhythms. The different paths the two mbiras take -- sometimes referred to as kushaura (leading) and kutsinhira (intertwining) parts -- are in an interlocking relationship with one another, one player sounding in the silence of the other, thus forming figures of intricacy and variety exceeding the movements of the fingers alone. The sustained hocketing is offset by a pattern sounded in repeating three-pulse groups.

Often one or both players sing patterns to the music. These can range from lengthy poems to personal comments, from ancient metaphoric wisdom and social commentary to funny stories and sounds, from criticism to nonsense syllables. These texts, often improvised with astounding spontaneity and ease, are rich in wit and double meaning.

The traditional mbira repertoire consists of hundreds of pieces transmitted from generation to generation, and pieces popular today are known to have been played over 700 years ago. At traditional Zimbabwean ceremonies (mapira), ancestors are called by performing their favorite songs; thus, the same pieces are retained in the repertoire over the centuries.

Sometimes performers give 'voice' to their dancing by attaching maghavu (gourds filled with seeds) to their legs, thus adding rhythmic complexity to the hosho's beating.

Mbira music has many facets. In the context of a bira ceremony, mbira players can project the mbira's sound into the heavens, attracting the attention of ancestral spirits. And mbira music is music for meditation, inspiring people to reflect on the joys and sorrows of life.  

 

Mbira in Shona culture  
As suggested by the full name of the instrument, mbira dza vadzimu ('mbira of the ancestral spirits'), the principal role of the mbira involves conjuring ancestral spirits, which play a central role in the religious cosmos of the Shona. In their all-night ceremonies of spirit possession (known as mapira), it is the sound of the mbira that entices the spirits to take part. Indeed, the buzzing causes acoustic illusions (sounding like human voices) to materialize through the instrument during the possession rites. The participants dance, sing and drink maize beer until the music reaches a dramatic climax and the ancestral spirit takes possession of the medium (homwe). The medium, whose sudden possession leads to heightened physical states (such as bending over backwards in a perfect arc or dancing in convulsive movements) behaves like the awakened ancestor, who in turn provides insight about (and offers advice on) particular social and political difficulties that beset the participating group. Thus, the mbira music provides a passage to negotiations with ancestors. And these negotiations help participants to break through an accustomed everyday way of thinking by opening up new dimensions of meaning for them.

At these ceremonies, spirits of family ancestors and deceased chiefs as well as powerful guardian spirits of the Shona give guidance on family and community matters and exert power over weather and health. Mbira is used to chase away harmful spirits and to cure illnesses with or without a n'anga (traditional diviner/herbalist). Mbira is included in celebrations of all kinds, including weddings, installation of new chiefs, and death ceremonies, including the guva ceremony, approximately one year after a person's physical death, in which mbira is used to welcome that individual's spirit back to the community..

It is likely that the musical tradition of the mbira precedes the first European accounts of it in the 16th century by several centuries. During Zimbabwe's colonial period (when it was known as Rhodesia), missionaries taught that mbira was evil, and the popularity of mbira in Zimbabwe declined. Since independence in 1980, mbira has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity. Traditional musicians remind their communities that mbira is played to encourage the spirits which protect the land and people of Zimbabwe - neither mbira nor the spirits should be neglected if Zimbabweans wish to enjoy health and prosperity.