Mbira, Kalimba, Lamellaphone. Whatʻs it all about?

there is an enchanting group of musical instruments which are unique to sub-saharan africa they are known by many names throughout the continent and they are all identified by having keys that are fixed at one end and free at the other like the tongue in your mouth i'm mahialani uchiyama and we're going to talk about the huge diversity of these instruments the differences between some of them and how to appreciate them within their own cultural context [Music] there is a wide variety of these instruments with differing forms and styles of playing found throughout the continent they include the like of gongo and the ubo of nigeria in zimbabwe alone there are numerous forms of vira including the matepe which is also played in mozambique the nunganunga and the imbira javadzimu we can also include instruments that evolved within the african diaspora such as the marimbula of the caribbean south america and mexico there are many iterations of these instruments from all over the african continent and they have also inspired some western innovations such as metal tongue drums [Music] outside of the african continent in an effort to classify such a disparate grouping of instruments scholars have categorized them under the term lamela phone a derivation of the latin root word lingua meaning tongue which alludes to the metal wood or other material used for their keys which are fixed at one end and free at the other though it is useful to have a single term to classify this large grouping of instruments and i myself have used this term to identify them it is important to consider how using a non-african term to describe a uniquely african thing can affect how you relate to receive and appreciate that thing let's unpack this for a bit by looking at two specific forms of these instruments the kalimba and invera [Music] outside of africa the most common of these instruments is known as the kalimba the kalimba is loosely patterned after an instrument called nunganyunga of zimbabwe and mozambique hugh tracy an ethnomusicologist from south africa devised a modified version of this instrument altering certain properties of its appearance and sound in order to make it more appealing to western tastes the result was wildly successful with many iterations being created and played all over the world most of these are tuned to a diatonic scale and have sweet bell-like tones making it super easy to play simple melodies and riffs by contrast limbita is the signature instrument of the shona people of zimbabwe it has a rich history which can be traced back to well over a thousand years with a central role in both culture and spirituality it is used in multiple contexts including social and recreational but most significantly mira bridges the realm of the ancestors with that of the living and is considered to have the power to provide comfort and healing to all who experience it the instrument and its music are ceremonial in their function and what makes it sacred is not just the physical instrument itself or the songs that played on it but instead the music's ability to bring people together for a common purpose during this history some of which has been quite difficult provided the people with hope and connection to one another there is a message in each veda song speaking of encouragement identity and heritage [Music] the physical instrument is characterized by having a wooden soundboard onto which a series of hammered metal tongues are attached at one end unlike the kalimba the keys of invita are aligned in such a way that there are three groupings of keys one on the right and two on the left these are played by the thumbs of both hands and the right index finger there is a hole at the lower right of the instrument for the player to insert their baby finger to hold it steady shells metal beads or in modern times bottle caps are added to produce a much desired buzzing sound to produce natural amplification the imbita is wedged into a large gourd called dese and secured there with a stick the tradition features a canon of songs some of which can be traced back to well over a thousand years in the past [Music] are tuned to have a range of about three octaves traditionally they are tuned in ways that are not necessarily consistent with western musical scales in playing in vieta some keys might be tuned slightly higher or lower than what might be expected by the western ear in other words there's no key of b c or g per se but with the increasing popularity of imbeda outside of zimbabwe many instrument makers are creating imbira that do correspond to these western pitches to make it possible for non-zimbabwean players to be able to play together there are some songs in the imbeda canon that are considered to belong to only one tuning but there are many others that can be played in many different tunings to illustrate this here's the song karigamombe played in three different tunings [Music] [Music] [Music] so what one word can we use to name such a diverse grouping of instruments we can choose to use the term la melophone but as we do so we should keep in mind the huge diversity of types playing styles and contexts of these instruments and that categorizing them with a term like lamellaphone in a way limits our understanding of what these instruments mean to the communities that created them when considering the rich history of invita and other instruments from the continent try considering them on their own terms rather than through the lens of western context trying to get them to fit into an identity that they were not intended for inevitably means that part of their uniqueness could be lost this is how we end up with such terms as thumb piano another way of thinking about it is if one looks at western music through the lens of traditional african music you could just as easily refer to a piano as a ten finger in beta that all being said is a world-class musical form and as such should be accessible to anyone who respects the tradition and wishes to play this music as it is an intrinsic part of the identity of the people of zimbabwe i would also counsel that anyone wishing to learn how to play the music learn why the music exists in the first place this will lead to a richer and more profound experience for you and your community thanks for watching if you enjoyed this video please hit the like button and subscribe to my channel there are many ways to support my work you could purchase my books from my online store or my music from itunes and other online outlets or my handmade jewelry from my etsy store or you could also become a member of my patreon community and speaking of patreon let me give my sincere appreciation to my patreon supporters whose names are listed here thank you all so much for your support all of these links are in the comments section below i'd love to hear your thoughts on this video if you have any suggestions for future topics put that there too and as always move with love

Channel: Mahealani Uchiyama

Views: 8,985

Keywords: mbira, kalimba, thumb piano, zimbabwe, africa, african music, nyunganyunga, mbira dzavadzimu, ubo, matepe, karimba, Hugh Tracey, South Africa

Id: 8U3563FPJo8

Length: 11min 0sec (660 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 23 2022