On the bottom edge of the instrument, they write their names in colored marker. Or they carve their names on the back, names like Newtan Chihota or Gift Rushambwa. With hands and thumbs dark as bordeaux, a Zimbabwean mbira craftsman like Gift Rushambwa might first cut and chisel a soundboard, or gwariva. This book-sized gwariva [...]
Filed under: mbira, thumbs | Tagged: gwariva, mbira soundboard, Shona culture, Shona music, the buzz | 1 Comment »
Thwinka … thwinka … thwinka, goes the ceiling fan overhead, its blades slicing the thick, tropical air in the same rhythm as my pulsing temple. Squeezed up against the armrest of a palm-patterned couch in a private home in Kailua, Hawaii, I am surrounded by a dozen mbira players. They all have their instruments, tucked [...]
Filed under: mbira, thumbs | Tagged: African musical instruments, Erica Azim, karimba, mbira, Mbira Camp, music, Shona, Shona culture, Shona music, thumb piano, Zimbabwe | Leave a Comment »
