Zimbabwean Music

was a significant decline in traditional music. Then, in the 1960s, along with emerging

Zimbabwean nationalism and world-wide recognition of black culture, there was a new

recognition and valuing of traditional Shona and Ndebele music (the two main tribal groups in

The classic instrument of Zimbabwe is the mbira. The mbira has been in use by the Shona

people since at least the Monomotapa dynasty of the 16th and 17th centuries. It usually consists of

22 metal keys or lamellas, which are fastened at one end to a wooden resonator body, though

number of keys can vary from 8 to over 50. The free protruding ends of the lamellas are plucked

with the thumb of the left hand and the thumb and index finger of the right hand. An entire genre

of music developed around the mbira, which includes subtypes based on instrument variations,

customs of playing, song texts, and musical functions.

A major characteristic of mbira playing is similar to that of other musical genres in other

parts of Africa - an artistic technique called “interlocking” of parts by individual players. The

musical product is such that individual parts cannot be separa

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Approximate Word count = 1497
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)