Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A musical instrument consisting of a hollow gourd or wooden resonator and a number of usually metal strips that vibrate when plucked.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A South African musical instrument allied to the zanze.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun music, in southern Africa Any of several
musical instruments , similar to amarimba , having a small sound box fitted with a row of tuned tabs that are plucked with the thumbs.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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This year there was marimba, mbira which is a type of traditional thumb piano, pop singing, classical singing, African drums, dance and instrumental.
Archive 2009-12-01 Lauri 2009
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This year there was marimba, mbira which is a type of traditional thumb piano, pop singing, classical singing, African drums, dance and instrumental.
Botswana Music Camp Concert 2009 Lauri 2009
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It sits beside a thumb piano, or mbira, I received in the Kalahari.
The Bushman Way of Tracking God PhD Bradford Keeney 2010
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Yet on Mr. Bona's windowsill sits a Grammy Award for guitarist Pat Metheny's 2002 album "Speaking of Now," on which Mr. Bona sang and played percussion; and beside it is a Les Victoires du Jazz, the French equivalent of a Grammy, for his 2006 "Tiki," on which he played five different instruments in addition to bass—from guitar and keyboards to the mbira, a thumb-piano common in many parts of Africa.
At Home in Music's World Larry Blumenfeld 2011
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Anyway, there's also an interesting mix of mbira music by women from Zimbabwe.
going there. bolmusic 2010
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He sat down on my floor and immediately set about educating me in mbira lore.
Michal Shapiro: The Good News From Zimbabwe: Healing Music of the Mbira 2010
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One of its jewels is the music of the mbira, an instrument that has been used for thousands of years for spiritual practice as well as for purely musical gatherings.
Michal Shapiro: The Good News From Zimbabwe: Healing Music of the Mbira 2010
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It is through the mbira that that the ancestors are called upon to intercede for the supplicant.
Michal Shapiro: The Good News From Zimbabwe: Healing Music of the Mbira 2010
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When I interviewed Nora Balaban who studied mbira in Zimbabwe, she told me of a master player named Garikayi Tirikoti who was living only a few city blocks from me.
Michal Shapiro: The Good News From Zimbabwe: Healing Music of the Mbira 2010
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Garakayi is in Zimbabwe now, but he is returning, and he wants to put together a 28 piece mbira orchestra.
Michal Shapiro: The Good News From Zimbabwe: Healing Music of the Mbira 2010
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