Shona Mbira Music
Generally, each mbira piece can be divided into four sections of twelve pulses each, although there are songs that divide into nine or eight pulses as well. Andrew Tracey refers to each cycle as a chara, which translates as "version", but literally means "fingering" or "thumb".
Traditional Shona Mbira music is typically composed to two different parts, the Kushaura (meaning "to lead" or "to start") and the Kutsinhira (meaning "to follow"). Each part is played on two different mbiras, with the kushaura often being the more simple part, and the kutsinhira more complicated.
Read more about this topic: Mbira Music
Famous quotes containing the word music:
“Nearly all the bands are mustered out of service; ours therefore is a novelty. We marched a few miles yesterday on a road where troops have not before marched. It was funny to see the children. I saw our boys running after the music in many a group of clean, bright-looking, excited little fellows.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)