Tuesday, January 26, 7300

Bantu to Zimbabwe (c. AD 300) - Mbira


Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest, and Mozambique to the east.


The majority of the population speaks Shona, which is the native language of the Shona people; the other native language of Zimbabwe being Sindebele, which is spoken by the Matabele people.

The name Zimbabwe derives from "Dzimba dza mabwe" meaning "great stone house" in the Shona language. Its use as the country's name is a tribute to Great Zimbabwe, site of the capital of the Empire of Great Zimbabwe.

Iron Age Bantu-speaking peoples began migrating into the area around AD 300, eventually displacing earlier hunters. These newcomers included the ancestors of the Shona, who account for roughly four-fifths of the country's population today



Zimbabwe - Shona - Nhemamusasa (Thumb Piano)











In Zimbabwean music, the mbira is a musical instrument consisting of a wooden board to which staggered metal keys have been attached. It is often fitted into a deze that functions as a resonator. Mbira performances are often accompanied by hosho.



The hosho is a Zimbabwean musical instrument consisting of a maranka gourd with seeds, usually hota (Canna indica) inside it,[1] or net of beads around it and which often accompanies Shona music, especially mbira music. It is a type of rattle. A smaller version of the hosho is made of a wild orange called a damba, tied together with sticks and filled with hota seeds or pebbles.

Other related percussion instruments from Zimbabwe include the magavhu (leg rattle) and ngoma (drum).

Among the Shona there are three mbira types that are very popular. The Mbira is usually classified as part of the lamellophone family of musical instruments. In some places the instrument is also known as a sansa.

In Shona music, the mbira dzavadzimu ("voice of the ancestors," national instrument of Zimbabwe, has been played by the Shona people of Zimbabwe for thousands of years. The mbira dzavadzimu is frequently played at religious ceremonies and social gatherings called mabira (sing. "bira").

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.

While playing, the little finger of the right hand is placed through a hole in the bottom right corner of the soundboard, stabilizing the instrument and leaving thumb and index finger of the right hand open to to pluck keys in the right register from above and below. The left hand is cupped around the left side of the instrument, with all fingers but the thumb placed behind the instrument. Both registers on the left side of the instrument are played with the left thumb.
Bottle caps, shells or other objects ("machachara") are often affixed to the soundboard to create a buzzing sound when the instrument is played. In a traditional setting, this sound is considered extremely important, as is believed to attract the ancestral spirits.
During a public performance, an mbira dzavadzimu is frequently placed in a deze (calabash resonator) to amplify its sound.

Tunings vary from family to family, referring to relative interval relationships and not to absolute pitches. The most common tuning is Nyamaropa, the western Mixolydian mode. Names may also vary between different families. For example, Garikai, whose family plays an "mbira orchestra" that has seven different tunings, each starting on a different interval of the same seven-note scale, calls his version of "Nyamaropa" the "Nhemamusasa" tuning. There are seven tunings that Garikai uses: Bangidza, Nyamaropa, Nhememusasa, Chakwi, Taireva, Mahoroho, and Mavembe (all of which are also names of traditional songs save for Mavembe).

Common names for tunings are:

Dambatsoko (Ionian mode) - Played by the Mujuru family. The name refers to their ancestral burial grounds.

Dongonda - usually a Nyamaropa tuned mbira with the right side notes the same octave as the left (an octave lower than usual).

Katsanzaira (Dorian mode) - The highest pitch of the traditional mbira tunings. The name means "the gentle rain before the storm hits".

Mavembe (also: Gandanga) (Phrygian mode) - Sekuru Gora claims to have invented this tuning at a funeral ceremony. The mourners were singing a familiar song with an unfamiliar melody and he went outside the hut and tuned his mbira to match the vocal lines. Other mbira players dispute that he invented it.

Nemakonde (Phrygian mode) - Same musical relationship as the mavembe, but the nemakonde tuning is a very low pitched version.

Saungweme (Whole tone)

[7321 Ethiopia / 7300 Zimbabwe / 7300 Kenya]

Friday, January 1, 7300

Settlement of Tahiti (c. 300) - Chant


Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean.

Tahiti is some 45 km (28 mi) wide at the widest point and covers 1,045 km² (403.5 sq mi), with the highest elevation being at 2,241 m (7,352 ft) above sea level (Mount Orohena). Mont Roonui, located on the southeastern part is 1332 m high. The island consists of two roughly round portions centered on volcanic mountains, connected by a short isthmus named after the small town of Taravao, which sits there. The northwestern part is known as Tahiti Nui ("big Tahiti"), and the southeastern part, much smaller, is known as Tahiti Iti ("small Tahiti") or Taiarapu. Whereas Tahiti Nui is quite heavily populated (especially around Papeete) and benefits from rather good infrastructure such as roads and highways, Tahiti Iti has remained quite isolated, its southeastern half (Te Pari) being accessible only by boat or hiking. A main road winds around the island between the mountains and the sea while an interior road climbs past dairy farms and citrus groves with panoramic views. Tahiti also has many swift streams, including the Papenoo in the north.

The vegetation is tremendously lush rain forest.

November through April is the wet season, and the wettest month is January, with 13.2 inches (335 mm) of precipitation in the capital of Papeete. August is the driest month with only 1.9 inches (48 mm) of rain. The average low temperature is 70 °F (21 °C) and the average high temperature is 88 °F (31 °C) with very little seasonal variation. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Papeete was 61 °F (16 °C) and the highest temperature recorded was 93 °F (34 °).



Tahiti is estimated to have been settled by Polynesians between AD 300 and 800 coming from Tonga and Samoa, although some estimates place the date earlier. The fertile island soil combined with fishing provided ample food for the population.

Tahiti - Chant









Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the music of Tahiti was dominated by festivals called heiva. Dancing was a vital part of Tahitian life then, and dances were used to celebrate, pray and mark almost every occasion of life. Examples include the men's ʻōteʻa dance and the couple's 'upaʻupa.

Professional dance troupes called ʻarioi were common, and they moved around the various islands and communities dancing highly sensually and erotically.

Traditional instruments include a conch-shell called the pu and a nose flute called the vivo, as well as numerous kinds of drums made from hollowed-out tree trunks and dog or shark skin.

[7300 Zimbabwe / 7300 Tahiti / 7200 Kenya]