Electronic music fans, with their insatiable apetite for hypnotic,
repetitive beats, layered structures, and of course white noise, would love
the African music style known as Mbira from Zimbabwe. The style involves an
individual or an ensemble playing what we westerners call a "Thumb Piano",
which is a small wooden box with tuned metal flaps that are plucked to play
melodies. The piano itself is often mounted in a gourd bedecked with bottle
caps or shells that, when the piano is resonating tones, vibrate to create a
percussive kind of white noise which pervades the song. The music has a
rigid but simple structure, consisting of four measures repeted, then
iterated into the next four measures.
Anyway, type in "Mbira" on Amazon or something and you'll find some good
stuff. As far as ethnographic Mbira goes, I've had a lot of luck with the
series of "world music" titles from WEA/ATLANTIC/NONESUCH. A westerner
trained in Mbira, Erica Kundidzora Azim has an excellent album which is
marketed as a new-agey 'relaxation' album, but is quite good.
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c h r i s t ø p h e r f ª h e y
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chrisf@raremedium.com
2 1 2 - 6 3 4 - 6 9 5 0 x 2 5 8
http://www.raremedium.com
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