Welcome to mbira zvakanaka webstore!
There are good varieties of qualified mbiras purchased firsthand in Zimbabwe as fair trade products. A mbira score by famous mbira virtuoso Luken Pasipamire to learn the traditional music is one of our original product.
Please feel free to ask any questions by e-mail. It would be our pleasure to answer all your question and invite you to the beautiful soundscape of mbira .
HOW TO ORDER AND PAYMENT
All the payment would be made through PAYPAL safely without any commission by credit card or from your bank account. First, choose the destination from the drop-down menu in which posting fee is already included. Then, click the “Add to cart” button and make your payment according to the guidance. If your destination is not in the menu, please send us a mail for details.
SHIPMENT
Mbira is delivered by postal EMS(express mailservice) as earliest after the confirmation of the receipt of the payment. By using EMS, you could receive the item speedy and check the delivery status through website,and the item is handled with the highest priority of any international mail.
In the drop-down menu, you choose the destination of the order and the price includes the shipping fee on top of the price of mbira.
As for mbira score book, the shipment would be made by Air mail(printed matter). If you wish for EMS, please send us a mail prior to your order and the posting fee would be informed to you.
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What is Mbira?
What is the mbira?
The mbira is a kind of thumb pianos played by Shona people in Zimbabwe. Among the thumb pianos in Africa, the mbira is charactarized by its highly sophisticated structure of the instrument developed over hundreds of years to play their polyrythmic spiritual music at their sacred ceremony.
Another feature of the mbira is that it is set into a hollow gourd to play in order to amplify the sound while many of thumb pianos have a box for the purpose.
Musical structure of the mbira
The mbira scale is diatonic of seven notes and the mbira has a range of three octaves. It is similar to western scales without half tones. mbira craftsman makes his own tunings and scales in Zimbabwe using their ears unlike the unified western musical instruments. A mbira could be played beautifully by a person but mainly played by more than two in their traditional play style at their spiritual ceremony. In this context, it takes two mbiras in same tuning and scale at least for the perfection of the song.
MBIRA SCORE BOOKS
Mbira score
”Luken Kwari Pasipamire Song Book”
12 mbira songs with lyrics from mbira vertuoso, Luken Pasipamire transcribed and recorded on 2 companion CDs. The text is in written in both English and Japanese and mbira tablatures are in Roman numerals.DVD is also attached which includes a message from Mr. Luken, talking about an old mbira passed down from his family(4:51), a ceremony video at Mhondoro, Zimbabwe(28:12) and Hosho lesson by Mr. Luken(2:00).
Price: JPY 4500 Shipping cost by air mail: JPY 600
Mbira score
”Traditional mbira scores of Luken Pasipamire”
16 mbira songs with lyrics from mbira vertuoso, Luken Pasipamire transcribed and recorded on three companion CDs. Although the text is in Japanese, you could easily understand the score as lyrics are written in Shona and English and mbira tablatures are in Roman numerals.
Price: JPY 4800 Shipping cost by air mail: JPY 600
Out of Stock at this moment(on the way of reprinting)
MBIRAS
Traditional Nyamaropa(Nhemamusasa) tuning mbira by Mr. Garikayi Tirikoti
Sweet sound and rich overtones. Highly recommended from us!
■Tuning: Traditional Nyamaropa(Nhemamusasa as Mr. Garikayi calls it)
■Lowest key: B flat(approximately)
■Average size: Length 20cm Width 17.5cm Good for normal sized hands
■price 34,000 Japanese yen(tax included)
Below prices includes shipping cost
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Mr. Tirikoti is an international famous artisan and also a genius player who have visited US and Europe several times for his teachings and performances. His mbira has beautiful over tones which would surely fascinate you. Each of his mbira has its own character as it is handmade and even wooden sound board is shaped by Zimbabwean small axe. As you play it for years, you would love it more and be satisfied of being the owner.
Traditional Nyamaropa tuning mbira by Mr. Samson Bvure
Beautifully buit like machine made!
■Tuning: Traditional Nyamaropa
■Middle size Average Length 22cm Width 17.5cm good for normal sized hands
Small size Average Length 21cm Width 16cm good for small hands
Choose the size and give us a instruction in your order mail.
■Lowest key: B flat (approximately)
■price 27800 Japanese yen (tax included)
Below prices includes the shipping cost.
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Mr. Bvure is an international famous artisan. He has an excellent manual skill and his mbira looks like a factory made as it is good in shape. The sound board is shaped by a machine. His hammering method is unique as the keys look like Japanese swords. Soft iron is used for the keys and it is the best mbira for beginners, females and soft fingers.
Traditional Nyamaropa tuning mbira by Mr. Admire Chinakwe
Built in traditional way and reasonable price!
■Average size Length 22cm Width 18cm Good for normal size hands
■Tuning: Standard(Nyamaropa)
■Lowest key: B flat (approximately)
■price 23000 Japanese yen (tax included) Below prices includes shipping cost
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Mr. Chinakwe started his career as marimba maker but now he has shifted to mbira making. He makes good mbira though he has not been recognized internationally yet. The sound board is nice and thick for resonance, and the keys are tightened by wire as same as the exact way the mbira has been built from the the Middle Ages. He works carefully and finishes beautifully. Good for beginners and saving person.
C major western scale mbira by Mr. Jona Wazara
You can play both the tradtional and western songs!
■Average size Length 21.5cm Width 18.5cm good for normal sized hands
■Tuning: western
■Scale: C major
■Lowest key: G
■price 32000 Japanese yen (tax included) Below prices includes shipping cost
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Mr. Jona is born in a rural area called Mhondoro where mbira has been played for centuries. In order to adapt to current music scene, he tunes his mbiras in western scale.
The keys are hammered hundreds of times to become very thin and wide of which sound is rich in overtone, and its soft keys are easy to play.
Good to play the western music with other instrument though mbira does not have half tones as well as Zimbabwean traditional songs. It is an octave lower than Jona’s middle size mbira and they could be played together nicely.
Traditional low Mahororo tuning bass mbira by Mr. Garikayi Tirikoti
How low can you go? Deep and heavy bass sound kicks you!
■Average size: Length 23cm ｘ Width 19cm. Good for medium to big sized hands
■Tuning: Mahororo tuning ( A bit similar to western major scale)
■Lowest key: E flat (approximately)
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How low can you go? Deep and heavy bass sound kicks you!
Low mahororo is a bass mbira for the standard tuning mbira of Mr. Garikayi Tirikoti. It has big sound board and fat keys which produce rich low pitch tones. It shares same scale with standard tuning mbira so they could be played together just like guitar and bass guitar.
No other mbiras could make this heavy bass sound of which you could feel into your bones.
EMS Rate schedule(in Japanese yen)
| Zone | First Zone | Second zone | Third zone | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| weight | Asia | North &Central America・Middle East・Oceania | Europe | South America・Africa | Mbira |
| up to 1.0kg | 1,800 | 2,400 | 2,800 | 3,800 | Jona small |
| up to 1.25kg | 2,100 | 2,800 | 3,250 | 4,600 | Admire Garikayi standard Samson Bvure Jona midium |
| up to 1.5kg | 2,400 | 3,200 | 3,700 | 5,400 | Low mahororo Jona large |