Online compendium of media to accompany Mbira publications by Paul Berliner and Cosmas Magaya.
Prodigy chronicles Cosmas Magaya’s childhood as the son of a healer/farmer/spirit medium in colonial Rhodesia in the 1950s-60s, a time of turbulent change that foreshadowed the country’s independence/civil war. Accounts of his musical training and performances during this period illuminate the mbira’s central place in ‘traditional’ Shona religion and society, while teaching readers how to listen to the music. QR-coded recordings illustrate the music’s basic components and their creative application–and the compelling interaction of musicians and worshippers at spirit possession ceremonies. Amplifying the book’s themes are prints by Lucas Bambo depicting daily life and musical practices at Magaya village and Prodigy’s “Beginners’ Guide to Playing Eight Mbira Compositions.”
The Art of Mbira
By Paul F. Berliner
Growing out of the collaborative research of an American ethnomusicologist and Zimbabwean musician, Paul F. Berliner’s The Art of Mbira documents the repertory for a keyboard instrument known generally as mbira. At the heart of this work lies the analysis of the improvisatory processes that propel mbira music’s magnificent creativity.
Mbira’s Restless Dance
By Paul F. Berliner
and Cosmas Magaya
Mbira’s Restless Dance is written to be played. This two-volume, spiral-bound set features musical transcriptions of thirty-nine compositions and variations, annotated with the master player’s advice on technique and performance, his notes and observations, and commentary by Berliner.
Available Now!
Books
A Prodigy’s Calling
The Art of Mbira
Mbira’s Restless Dance
The Soul of Mbira
