Noun
mbira (plural mbiras)
(music) A thumb piano, a musical instrument having a small sound box fitted with a row of tuned tabs that are plucked with the thumbs, originating among the Shona of southern Africa; any type of plucked lamellophone of the same type as the Shona instrument.
Synonyms: finger piano, sanza, thumb piano
Hyponyms: kalimba, likembe, marimba
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. Source: Internet
During a public performance, an mbira dzavadzimu is frequently placed in a deze ( calabash resonator) to amplify its sound. Source: Internet
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. Source: Internet
In the mid 1950s the mbira was the basis for the development of the kalimba, a westernized version designed and marketed by the ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey, leading to a great expansion of its distribution outside of Africa. Source: Internet
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. Source: Internet
Other mbira players dispute that he invented it. Source: Internet