Name	Mbira or Sanza
Image capt	Mbira dzavadzimu
Background	other
Classification	Lamellophone, Plucked Idiophone
Hornbostel sachs	122.1
Hornbostel sachs desc	Plucked idiophone
Range	Varies, see Tuning
Articles	Mbira music

In African music, the mbira (also known as Likembe, Mbila, Thumb piano, Mbira Huru, Mbira Njari, Mbira Nyunga Nyunga, Karimbao or Kalimba) is a musical instrument consisting of a wooden board to which staggered metal keys have been attached. It is often fitted into a resonator. In Eastern and Southern Africa there are many kinds of mbira, usually accompanied by the hosho. among the Shona people there are three that are very popular (see Shona music). The Mbira is usually classified as part of the lamellaphone family. It is also part of the idiophones family of musical instruments. In some places it is also known as a sanza or sansa.

In the late 1960s to early 70s sanza was the generic term used to describe these members of the lamellophone family. Mbira has now become so well known due to the worldwide stage performance and recordings of Thomas Mapfumo whose music is based on and includes the mbira, and the work of Dumisani Maraire who brought marimba and karimba music to the US Pacific Northwest, Ephat Mujuru who was one of the pioneer teachers of mbira in the US, and the writings and recordings of Zimbabwean musicians made by Paul Berliner. Mbira has now replaced sanza as the generic term. Dr. Joseph H. Howard, owner of the largest collection of drums and ancillary folk instruments in the Americas, often stated it is "the instrument most typical of Africa." By this he meant that the instruments were only found in areas populated by Africans or their descendants. Babatunde Olatunji made a similar statement in his book "Musical Instruments of Africa." He states the mbira "a finger xylophone, is native to Africa and is common throughout the continent. It is known nowhere else except in parts of the Americas where it was taken by Africans."

Mbira Dzavadzimu

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In Shona music, the mbira dzavadzimu ("voice of the ancestors", national instrument of Zimbabwe) 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 mabira (sing. "bira").

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.

While playing, the little finger of the right hand is placed through a hole in the bottom right corner of the soundboard, stabilizing the instrument and leaving thumb and index finger of the right hand open to stroke keys in the right register from above and below. The fingers of the left hand stabilize the left side of the instrument, with most fingers reaching behind the instrument. Both registers on the left side of the instrument are played with the left thumb and sometimes the left forefinger.

Bottle caps, shells, or other objects ("machachara") 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 the 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 natives. It is usually played to facilitate communication with ancestral spirits. 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.

Tuning

Tunings vary from family to family, referring to relative interval relationships and not to absolute pitches. The most common tuning is Nyamaropa, similar to the western Mixolydian mode. Names may also vary between different families. For example, 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. The seven tunings that Garikayi uses are: Bangiza, Nyabango, Nhemamusasa, Chakwi, Taireva, Mahororo, and Mavembe (all of which are also names of traditional songs save for Mavembe and Nyabango). The closest to what is commonly named "Nyamaropa" is his "Nhemamusasa" tuning.

Historically, mbira tunings have not mapped exactly onto Western scales; it is not unusual for a seven-note sequence on a mbira to be "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. With the increased popularity of the mbira 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.

Common names for tunings are

Dambatsoko (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 (Dorian mode), the highest pitch of the traditional mbira tunings. The name means "the gentle rain before the storm hits".

Mavembe (also: Gandanga) (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.

Nemakonde (Phrygian mode), ame musical relationship as the mavembe, but the nemakonde tuning is a very low pitched version.

Saungweme (flattened whole tone, approaching 7 tone equal temperament).

Mbira Nyunga Nyunga

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 1968-1972.

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).

Mark Holdaway of Kalimba Magic has introduced a graphic form of tablature for the karimba, and traditional karimba tunes as well as modern songs and new compositions and exercises are available in this tablature.

Traditional Zimbabwean Mbira Masters

Ephat Mujuru

Cosmas Magaya

Sekuru Gora

Matemai

Forward Kwenda

Garikayi Tirikoti

Mbira dzeNharira

Mhuri yekwaRwizi

Musekiwa Chingodza

Stella Chiweshe

Chartwell Dutiro

Mhuri yekwaMuchena

Dumisani and Chiwoniso Maraire

Jimmy Chifamba and Cypren Vambe

Nyamasvisva and Mawungira eNharira

Other Mbira players

Erica Azim

Chris Berry

Imogen Heap

Glenn Kotche of Wilco

Lulendo

Jamie Muir of King Crimson

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails

Mal Webb

Maurice White of Earth, Wind, & Fire

Tinashé

Steve Hackett

Recordings

Nonesuch Explorer Series 79703-2, Zimbabwe: The African Mbira: Music of the Shona People (2002). Liner notes by Robert Garfias (1971).

Nonesuch Explorer Series 79704 Zimbabwe: The Soul of Mbira: Traditions of the Shona People (1973). Produced by Paul Berliner

Konono N°1 Congotronics (2004). See also the corresponding Amazon listing. Contemporary recording of traditional Congolese sanza mbira (i.e. likembe) from Kinshasa, played with [diy] amplification, and gained the attention of the western world music press in 2005.

Musical instruments 2: (LP) Reeds (Mbira). (1972) The Music of Africa series. 1 LP disc. 33⅓ rpm. mono. 12 in. Recorded by Hugh Tracey. Kaleidophone, KMA 2.

Mbira Music of Rhodesia, Performed by Abram Dumisani Maraire. (1972). Seattle: University of Washington Press, Ethnic Music Series. Garfias, R. (Ed.). 1 LP disc. 33⅓ rpm. mono. 12 in. UWP-1001. This disc features Maraire exclusively on Nyunga Nyunga mbira. A 12-page booklet by Maraire is included, describing the background, composition, and performance of nyunga-nyunga mbira music.

A mbira was played by Jamie Muir in the introduction of King Crimson's "Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part One"

Penguin Cafe Orchestra used an mbira in a cover of the traditional "Nhemamusasa" titled as "Cutting Branches For a Temporary Shelter" which is the English translation.

Njuzu Mbira: Traditional Music of Zimbabwe (30. May 2003) released by Njuzu Mbira / CD Baby

Stella Chiweshe: Through Mbira (16. November 2009) release by Anhrefn Records / Cadiz

Stella Chiweshe: Talking Mbira (11. June 2002) released by Piranha / Zebralution

Tinashe Chidanyika: Sounds of the African Mbira(1. January 2009) released by ARCMUSIC / RoyaltyShare

Mawungira eNharira:Chinamanenji(2006)released by Record & Tape Promotions (RTP) / CD and Cassete

Mawungira eNharira:Ndodyiwa Nemakava(May 2010)released by Gramma Records / CD

See also

Electric lamellophone

Notes

References

Warner Dietz, Betty and Olatunji, Michael Babatunde. (1965). Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use, and Place in The Life of a Deeply Musical People. New York: John Day Company.

Howard, Joseph H. (1967). Drums in the Americas. New York: Oak Publications.

Mutwa, Credo Vusa'mazulu. (1969). My people: the incredible writings of Credo Vusa'mazulu Mutwa. Johannesburg : Blue Crane Books, 1969.

Tracey, Andrew. (1970). The Matepe Mbira Music of Rhodesia. Journal of the African Music Society, IV: 4, 37-61. (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.

External links

The Mbira Page, Solomon Murungu's Shona music site

Tinotenda An introduction and guide to the mbira and mbira music

Mbira players list, from N. Scott Robinson site

The Mbira Oracle The Mbira Oracle Instructional web channel posting videos for Mbira dzaVadzimu.

Dandemutande, non-profit organization devoted to Shona music

MBIRA, non-profit organization devoted to Shona mbira music directed by Erica Azim and based in Berkeley, California

Serevende, Zimbabwean mbira centre in Belgium

Mhumhi Records, non-profit record company devoted to Shona music

Zimbabwean Music Festival (Zimfest), annual Zimbabwean music festival in North America

http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/textm/Mbira.html

Mbira article by N. Scott Robinson

Mbira tunings page, by N. Scott Robinson

Measurements of the Acoustics of the Kalimba from the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Yeshe, German-born Australian mbira players

Adamaduma, an Afro-Yemen-Canaanite Fusion Ensemble, With mbira as a main melodic instrument

Imogen Heap, a London singer-songwriter pop star, with an array mbira commonly accompanying a piano.

Award Winning Zimbabwean Mbira Music and Cultural Ensemble

Information on forthcoming Mbira music projects and shows round the globe

Category:Lamellophones Category:African musical instruments Category:Zimbabwean musical instruments Category:Equatoguinean musical instruments

Patrick Arthur Sheldon Hadley (5 March 1899–17 December 1973) was a British composer.

Biography

Patrick Sheldon Hadley was born on 5 March 1899 in Cambridge. His father, William Sheldon Hadley, was at that time a fellow of Pembroke College. His mother, Edith Jane, was the daughter of the Revd Robert Foster, chaplain to the Royal Hibernian Military School in Dublin.

Patrick studied initially at St Ronan's Preparatory School at West Worthing and then at Winchester College. However the First World War interrupted his education. He enlisted in the army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery. He managed to survive unscathed until the last weeks of the war, when he received an injury necessitating the below knee amputation of his right leg. This profoundly damaged his confidence and also caused him to perhaps drink more than was wise; he was in constant pain, for which alcohol provided some relief. His elder brother Peyton Sheldon Hadley, serving in the infantry, was also wounded in the closing months of the War. He was invalided home to convalesce, but died of pneumonia that October.

After the war Patrick went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where by now his father was Master. He was fortunate to study with both Charles Wood and the undervalued English composer Cyril Rootham. Hadley was awarded B.Mus. in 1922, and an MA in 1925. He then went to the Royal College of Music in London. Here he came under the influence of Ralph Vaughan Williams for composition and Adrian Boult and Malcolm Sargent for conducting. Eric Weatherall notes that Hadley's contemporaries at the RCM included Constant Lambert and Gordon Jacob. He won the Sullivan prize for composition: at that time the princely sum of 5/-.

He eventually became a member of the RCM staff in 1925 and taught composition. He became acquainted with Frederick Delius (see Eric Fenby's account in "Delius as I knew him"), E. J. Moeran, Sir Arnold Bax, William Walton, Alan Rawsthorne, and Herbert Howells. In fact his friends are a litany of all that was best in English music at that time.

In 1938 he was elected to a Fellowship at Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge and appointed as a lecturer in the music faculty. Much of his time was spent in run of the mill administrative activities, but there was still time available for composition. Some of his greatest works were written during and after the war.

During the Second World War he deputised for Boris Ord as conductor and musical director of the Cambridge University Music Society. There he introduced a number of important works, including Delius' Appalachia and The Song of the High Hills.

He was keen to promote a wide range of music, including the formation of a Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Much of his time was spent in making arrangements for the use of the "chaps" in the choir. Sadly, few of these have survived. We know them only from programme notes and hearsay.

In 1946 he was elected to the Chair of Music at Cambridge University. He retained this post until his retirement in 1962. Some of the students taught by Hadley have gone on to make big names for themselves: Raymond Leppard, Sir David Lumsden, and Peter le Huray.

In 1962 Hadley retired to Heacham in Norfolk. He wished to pursue his interest in folk song collection. However, he latterly struggled with throat cancer and this caused many of his activities to be suspended.

Patrick Hadley died on 17 December 1973 at King's Lynn. He was 74 years old.

Music

Patrick Hadley was influenced by the music of Frederick Delius and also to a certain extent folk music. But there were other non-musical influences in his life too: Ireland and Norfolk gave him a profound sense of landscape and location.

His output was limited. He found the business of composing quite exhausting. Most people think of Hadley as composer of one or two church anthems: I Sing of a Maiden and the mildly exotic My Beloved spake. The catalogue shows a wide variety of musical forms: from a symphonic ballad to incidental music for Twelfth Night. However, there are no cycles of symphonies, concertos, or string quartets.

He maintained throughout his a career a sense of the lyrical. Not for him was the experimental music of the Second Vienna School. He had an exceptional understanding of how to set words to music. Much of his music is meditative and quite inward looking. One is left wishing he had written more music for chamber and orchestral forces. Much of Patrick Hadley's music seems to evoke the English and the Irish landscape. This is sometimes overt and sometimes intangible. However it is always done in a very subtle and beautiful way.

One of Hadley's undoubted masterpieces is his Symphonic Ballad: The Trees So High. This is a large-scale setting of the folk song of that name for baritone, chorus, and full orchestra. The work is in four movements and it is only in the last that Hadley deploys the chorus and soloist. It is in this movement that Hadley quotes the folk-song in its entirety.

The Hills was completed in 1944 and is perhaps the finest of Hadley’s cantatas, the other two being Fen and Flood and Connemara, both dating from the 1950s. The Hills has strong personal links with the composer’s life, dealing with the meeting, courtship, and marriage of his parents. The landscape described is Derbyshire and this is well reflected in the music. One is reminded, perhaps, of Delius's Mass of Life.

Perhaps the gentlest introduction to Hadley is his short orchestral work One Morning in Spring, which was composed to celebrate Ralph Vaughan Williams' seventieth birthday. It is a fine example of an English tone poem.

Perhaps the desideratum is the early orchestral sketch Kinder Scout. However, this is still in manuscript and it will take an adventurous record company to produce it.

Although Hadley was best of friends with Ralph Vaughan Williams, he never truly bought into the so-called folk song revival. Much of his music has folk characteristics, however not for him the old adage of Constant Lambert: "All you can do with a folk tune is to repeat it—louder!". Hadley's use of the folk idiom was subtle.

Much of the composer's output was connected with the Caius Choir. He did a number of arrangements of works in many different genres, from Verdi's Stabat Mater to Waltzing Matilda and many distinctive folk song settings.

Patrick "Paddy" Hadley’s music will never be widely popular. However, he will appeal greatly to those interested in British music. If he had only composed the Symphonic Ballad: The Trees So High and nothing else, he would be respected as a fine composer. As it is, all his works exhibit a great degree of skill, craftsmanship, and sheer musicality.

Category:1899 births Category:1973 deaths Category:People from Cambridge Category:English composers Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music Category:Old Wykehamists