Karigamombe - Mhuri yekwaRwizi

I finally got my mbira. This song has taken over my mind. A few features of the instrument and music:

1. Lots of overtones.
2. Pieces of metal/bottle caps/shells make an ever-changing buzz.
3. Each piece is a circular repetition of linear melodies. Harmony is incidental.
4. Improvisation is important. Really, really important.
5. There is no definite starting or ending point for a piece.
6. Each piece has two parts. Sometimes they’re distinct. Sometimes they’re exactly the same but offset by one eighth note.
7. Rhythm… man, hard to sum up. Always in 12/8, 6/8, 3/4, 4/4, 2/4, all the time.
8. The hosho pattern is constant and rhythmically subtle.
9. Players often sing, either low melodies they’re playing, high melodies they’re playing and/or are coming from the overtones, and melodies with lyrics—old stories, poems.
10. The instrument was/is traditionally used in trance rituals. Favorite songs of ancestors are played.
11. Mbira are made in different tunings and pitches. There’s also wide variation in tone, overtone tuning, buzziness, etc.
12. Each piece is a continual presence, something that can always be tapped into and that continually reveals new melodies, rhythms, voices.