Contextual Associations

Magagada, also called magahvu and mirara, are leg-rattle idiophones used by Shona dancers and musicians in Zimbabwe. They are used in any musical situation that features dancing. While similar in sound to the Shona rattle called hosho, they serve a less structural purpose to the music and rather serve to enhance the movements of the dancer.

Description

Each magagada consists of three rows of five dried matamba fruit shells filled with hota plant seeds. Each matamba shell has a hole drilled in its top and bottom. After the seeds are inserted, a wooden rod, serving as a sort of spine, is passed through the holes in the five shells that make up a row. Three such rows are connected to one another by tying together the ends of their protruding spines with braided mupfuti bark fiber. The rattles are tied to the dancers legs with additional lengths of braided fiber. 

Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production

One magagada rattle is tied to each of a dancer’s legs below their knees. The rhythmic stomping action of the dancer’s movements thrusts the seeds against the inside walls of the fruit shells to create clear articulations that give movement a sonic dimension. The resulting rhythmic patterns dovetail into the other sonic elements of the performance produced on drums, flutes and/or clappers, and by participants singing and handclapping.

Origins/History/Evolution

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.

Jones, Claire 1992. Making Musical Musical Instruments of Zimbabwe Past and Present. Harare: Academic Books 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.