Various Artists – Tales of The Mbira: Fusions – Modern & Ancient (Sheer Sound/ Planet MGM)

The Mbira is a thumb piano from Zimbabwe that is played by plucking or drumming small metal keys with thumbs and fingers. It’s an incredible sounding instrument, particularly when a few are played in unison, a tinkering wall of sound with an amazing range. It is typically placed inside a hollow calabash to offer additional resonance. This introduction to the Mbira demonstrates some of the diverse application for this incredible instrument from the gentle warmth of the more traditional opener from Mbira Dzenharira in which the tinkering of Mbira is accompanied only by shakers and emotional vocals, to more the more complex fusion of Mahube (South Africa) who offer more polished vocals, woodwind, even electric bass guitar. Interestingly whether traditional or contemporary it seems impossible to place the Mbira anywhere but front and center in the mix, as it seems to kill two birds with one stone, offering a melodic form of percussion, with other instrumentation predominantly accenting either avenue. In fact the most common technique on offer in this collection is to use vocals to create a melody over the top of a simmering mass of repetitive Mbira. And it’s an immediately recognizable sound, warm, and metallic yet still somehow natural and earthy.