In Zimbabwean music

Music of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean music includes folk and pop styles, much of it based on the well-known instrument the mbira which is also popular in many other African countries. An annual Zimbabwe Music Festival is held each year in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. People from all over the world attend...

, mbira music is music played on an mbira

Mbira

In African music, the mbira is a musical instrument that consists of a wooden board to which staggered metal keys have been attached. It is often fitted into a resonator...

, a traditional instrument of the Shona people

Shona people

Shona is the name collectively given to two groups of people in the east and southwest of Zimbabwe, north eastern Botswana and southern Mozambique.-Shona Regional Classification:...

 of Zimbabwe.

To many people Mbira music appears extremely repetitive, or cyclical. However, in most Mbira music, there are minute variations, suggestive of the minimalist

Minimalism

Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...

 movement in western music (for example Philip Glass

Philip Glass

Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...

 et al.).

As usual in African music, rhythm plays an important part. The rhythm

Rhythm

Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

s are often quite intricate and to some extent dictate the form of the melody

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

.

Shona mbira music

Generally, each mbira piece can be divided into four sections of twelve pulses each, although there are songs that divide into nine or eight pulses as well. Andrew Tracey

Andrew Tracey

Andrew Tracey, born 5 May 1936, Durban, South Africa,is a South African ethnomusicologist, promoter ofAfrican music,composer, folk singer, band leader, and actor...

 refers to each cycle as a chara, which translates as "version", but literally means "fingering" or "thumb".

Traditional Shona Mbira music is typically composed to two different parts, the Kushaura

Kushaura

In Shona music, the kushaura is the leading part. Compare with the kutsinhira part.The kushaura can be thought of being the first part, with the kutsinhira usually being a beat behind, within a cycle of 12 beats. However, this is not always the case. Furthermore, certain parts are both kushaura...

 (meaning "to lead" or "to start") and the Kutsinhira

Kutsinhira

In Shona music, the kutsinhira is the following part. The kutsinhira is often a beat behind the kushaura part, but not always. More generally, the kutsinhira is the part that is more, or mostly off the beat when compared to the kushaura....

 (meaning "to follow"). Each part is played on two different mbiras, with the kushaura often being the more simple part, and the kutsinhira more complicated.

Shona mbira songs

Kariga Mombe

• Means "taking the bull by the horns" or "undefeatable" and is a good first piece to learn because of its relative simplicity.
• With its simultaneous plucking of both the upper and middle registers in a steady beat, it becomes easy to play, but challenging to properly count: it gives the feel of a two pulse (six counts of two pulses), but is traditionally played as three (four counts of three pulses) causing the beat to fall in between the notes every other time.
• A derivative of the older song Nyamaropa.
• For North American students of the mbira, this song is often widely considered to be the first song taught to beginners because of its simplicity; in Zimbabwe, however, Chemutengure, a song anonymously composed in 19th century, which means "imitating the sound of wheels", is used to teach beginners especially on the mbira nyunga nyunga.

Mahororo

• Named after a small river in Zimbabwe, used to welcome hunters home after long hunts (according to Stella Chiweshe
  Stella Chiweshe
  Stella Chiweshe is a Zimbabwean musician. She is internationally known for her singing and playing of the mbira dzavadzimu, a traditional instrument of the Shona people of Zimbabwe...
  
  ).
• Word means "Baboons' voices" or "Freedom following victorious struggle" (according to Forward Kwenda
  Forward Kwenda
  Forward Kwenda is a mbira performer from Zimbabwe. He was born in the rural Buhera area in Manicaland, an area known for its fierce resistance to colonial rulers and respect for Shona tradition. As a young boy, Forward excelled in traditional dance and recitation of ancient poetry...
  
  ).
• Also a derivative of the older song Nyamaropa.

Nyamaropa

• Literally means "meat and blood."
• It is considered among the oldest of mbira music. According to Berliner
  Paul Berliner
  Paul Franklin Berliner is an American ethnomusicologist, best known for specializing in African music as well as jazz and other improvisational systems. He is best known for his popular ethnomusicology book on the Zimbabwean mbira, The Soul of Mbira: music and traditions of the Shona people of...
  
   it was the first piece composed for the instrument.
• Although it may have originally been a song to prepare for battle, it is now considered a hunting song.

Nhemamusasa

• Translates as "temporary shelter." A musasa
  Musasa
  Musasa may refer to:* Musasa language, a language related to the Eastern Indic Bihari languages group* Félix Mwamba Musasa , a Congolese footballer* Kabamba Musasa , a Congolese footballer...
  
  is a shelter hunters would build while away from their homes.
• Like Nyamaropa this song was also once associated with war, but is now used as a hunting song.
• The tonal center of this song is a fourth above the lowest note on the mbira.

Kuzanga

• According to B. Michael Williams, a Shona man named Chartwell Dutiro
  Chartwell Dutiro
  Chartwell Shorayi Dutiro started playing mbira when he was four at the protected village, Kagande, about two hours drive from Harare where his family was moved by the Salvation Army missionaries during the Chimurenga. Even though the missionaries had banned traditional music, he learned to play...
  
   explains that the title means "to thread beads," and states it is a "song about an old woman who stays in the forest alone, making beads for her ancestors. For the old woman, making beads for the ancestors is living happily and free from fear."
• Although the tonal center and harmonic structure are similar to dande, kuzanga only has nine pulses per section, instead of the twelve.

Taireva

• The title of this song can be translated a number of ways: "we used to tell you," "we shall speak out," "I have said it," "we were talking," "I once said it," and "don't say I didn't warn you."
• It is reported to express the importance of what is on your mind, and listening to your elders.
• Also a derivation of Nyamaropa
• The harmonic progression of this song, shifted to a minor key, provides the basis for the Chimurenga
  Chimurenga music
  Chimurenga music is a Zimbabwean popular music genre coined and popularised by Thomas Mapfumo. Chimurenga is a Shona language word for struggle. The word's modern interpretation has been extended to describe a struggle for human rights, political dignity and social justice...
  
   song Nyoka Musango by Thomas Mapfumo
  Thomas Mapfumo
  Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo is a Zimbabwean musician known as "The Lion of Zimbabwe" and "Mukanya" for his immense popularity and for the political influence he wields through his music, including his sharp criticism of the government of President Robert Mugabe...
  
  .

Vadzimu

• This is a version of Nyamaropa (whose name means "spirits") played by the contemporary Shona musician Fabio Chivhanda. Also known more generically as "Nyamaropa yaChivhanda" which literally means "Chivhanda's Nyamaropa."

Bangidza or Bangiza

• The title can be taken to mean "show," or "spiritual vibes," and is understood to be a very ancient spiritual song.
• Erica Azim
  Erica Azim
  Erica Azim is one of the leading western authorities on and practitioners of Zimbabwean mbira music. She is currently based in Berkeley, California, and makes frequent trips to Zimbabwe to record music, as well as visits around the US to teach mbira, particularly to areas in the Pacific Northwest...
  
   reports this song as dating back to the 14th-16th century, during the time of Mwena Mutapa
  Pre-colonial history of Zimbabwe
  The pre-colonial history of Zimbabwe lasted until the British government granted colonial status to Southern Rhodesia in 1923.-Ancient civilization:...
  
  (or Great Zimbabwe).

Marenje

• A song typically played on the gandanga
  Gandanga
  Gandanga is a Zimbabwean word from the Shona language spoken by the Zezuru people.The word "Gandanga" is a popular term referring to the Guerrilla soldiers who fought during the Zimbabwean liberation struggle against Rhodesia...
  
  (mavembe) tuning of the mbira (as is Ngozi ye Muroora).