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The Mbira in Cartagena

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

George List
George List*
Affiliation:
Indiana University, Bloomington
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Extract

The mbira or “thumb piano” is reputed to be the only musical instrument which had its origin in sub-Saharan Africa. It is known in various regions of that continent by numerous names, of which mbira, mbila, sansa, or sensa are perhaps the most common. The instrument consists of a number of forged iron strips of different lengths mounted on a board. One end of each of these metal keys is fixed, in most instruments by insertion between metal bridges. The free ends are plucked, usually by the thumbs and forefingers, whence the name “thumb piano.” Small instruments are played while being held in the palms of the two hands. Larger ones are held on the lap. The board may be placed within an open calabash which acts as a resonator or the metal keys may be mounted on a wooden box rather than a board. The instrument diffused to America with the importation of slaves from Africa and is known in Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti.

Type
Performing Styles in Folk Music and Dance
Information
Journal of the International Folk Music Council , Volume 20 , 1968 , pp. 54 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © International Council for Traditional Music 1968

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References

Notes

1. Kirby, Percival R., The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa (London, 1965), 2nd ed., p. 47.Google Scholar

2. Ibid., p. 65.

3. Ortiz, Fernando, Los instrumentos de la musica afrocubana (Havana, 1952), Vol. I, p. 269.Google Scholar

4. Ibid., p. 268.

5. Ibid., p. 267.

6. Courlander, Harold, “Musical Instruments of Cuba,” The Musical Quarterly, Vol. XVIII, no. 2 (April 1942), p. 239.Google Scholar

7. The dates for the appearance of Cuban sound films in Cartagena were given to me by my informants. They are obviously in error since the first motion picture with a full sound-track, Lights of New York, was first shown on July 6th, 1928.

8. These observations are based on my field work in Columbia as a Fulbright Research Scholar in 1964-65.