Contextual Associations

The karimba is a lamellaphone idiophone of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. The karimba pictured and discussed here is of recent invention (1960s) and was intended for use as part of music education programs. Its design is based on lamellaphones used for traditional music making in parts of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Unlike other Zimbabwean lamellaphones, this type of karimba has no traditional context of use. Three karimbas, by different makers, are found in the collection: gallery #1, a 15-key karimba, was made by Samuel Mujuru; gallery #2, also with 15 keys, is by an unknown maker; and the 16-key karimba in gallery #3 was made by Musekiwa Chingodza. Moon (2018) discusses other, larger types of karimbas, some of them related in size, playing technique, and traditional usage to the matepe, which is discussed in a separate entry on this website.

Description

Each spring-steel tongue/lamella on all three karimbas is wider and thinner at its sounding end than at its anchored end. They are held in place with a metal pressure bar that exerts a downward pressure on the keys against the thick top end of the board, serving as a backrest, and a metal bridge. Two methods of attaching the pressure bar are found on these instruments: the galleries #1 and #2 karimbas use the traditional method of threading a wire around the bar then through holes drilled in the instrument’s sound board; while the gallery #3 instrument incorporates special metal hardware (four bolts with a special head through which the pressure bar passes [detail #1] attached to four nuts on the backside of the sound board [detail #2]). The maker sets the downward pressure of the bar with wire that is threaded alternately around the bar and through holes in the soundboard before being pulled taut (the two 15-key instruments) or, on the 16-key instrument, by tightening the special metal nuts and bolts (details #1 and #2). The metal bridge rests vertically on the sound board, held in place by a slot cut into the board’s sidewalls and face. The playing end of the tongue in the upper rank of keys is given a more acute upward bend than are the eight or nine longer keys in the lower rank (detail #4). Three different buzzing mechanisms are found on these karimbas: several brass beads threaded together with a wire is attached to the soundboard of the instrument (gallery #1); two bottle caps loosely attached to a metal plate which is nailed to the soundboard of the instrument (gallery #2); and three wire coils loosely connected to a heart-shaped metal plate that is in turn screwed onto the gallery #3 karimba’s soundboard (detail#3) all produce a soft rattle in response to the tongues being plucked. While karimbas often use a distinctive circular-shaped resonator constructed from several pieces of wood (see gallery #2), other karimbas can be wedged into a more traditional hemispheric-shaped gourd resonator (called a ‘deze’) the opening of which is bordered with loosely attached bottle caps or shells to add further buzz to the primary sound of the instrument.

Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production

The performer, either standing or seated, holds the back and sides of the soundboard with his hands, leaving his thumbs free to flex-and-release the tongues with a downward motion. The instruments in galleries #1 and #2 are tuned to a non-standardized hexatonic (six-tone) scale over a range of two octaves from approximately F3 to F5. On these 15-key instruments (galleries #1 and #2), the pitch arrangement of the upper manual from left to right is approximately: E5 - D5 - C5 - F5 - C5 - D5 - E5; the lower manual, left to right is A4 - G4 - F4 - A3 - F3 - C4 - D4 - E4. The 16-key karimba (gallery #3) has the same layout as above except for an additional key tuned approximately to B-flat4 at the left end of the lower manual; it therefore has a heptatonic (7-tone) tuning. The repertoire of this instrument consists of cyclical, polyphonic and polyrhythmic phrases that accompany settings of traditional, often didactic, songs themselves organized in a call-response form.

Origins/History/Evolution

The karimba was developed around 1960 by the Shona musician Jege A. Tapera, who based it on a thirteen-key instrument he encountered when visiting neighboring Mozambique. (Berliner, "The Soul of Mbira," 1993, p. 263) This development took place in the context of the Kwanangoma Teacher Training College in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. A graduate of that institution, Dumasani Maraire, went on to earn a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington. He is largely responsible for introducing the karimba to the West, and part of his legacy is recordings he made on the instrument (audio example).

Bibliographic Citations

Berliner, Paul F. 1981. The Soul of Mbira—Music and Traditions of the Shona People of Zimbabwe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ellert. H. 1984. The Material Culture of Zimbabwe. Harare: Longman Zimbabwe.

Kaemmer, John E.  1998. “Music of the Shona of Zimbabwe.” In The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music v.1. ed. Ruth M. Stone. New York: Garland Publishing, pp. 744-758.

Maraire, Dumasani Abraham, and Robert Garfias. 1971. The African Mbira--Music of the Shona People of Rhodesia. LP and notes. Nonesuch Explorer Series H-72043.

Moon, Jocelyn. 2018. “Karimba: the shifting boundaries of a sacred tradition,” African Music 10/4:103-125.

Turino, Thomas. 2000. Nationalists, Cosmopolitans, and Popular Music in Zimbabwe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.