The Mbira is an ancient lamellaphone from Africa. The instrument featured here is the ancient Mbira dzaVadzimu, or "Voice of the Ancestors", played widely among the Zezeru of Southern Africa, Great Zimbabwe. It holds a two thousand year history and continues to be a vibrant source of inspiration within Shona culture and the World of music. It is truly unique with its seven major tunings and 700 piece repertoire. An Oracle is a vessel or portal to knowledge and wisdom. Here, YouTube will serve as our vessel of Mbira knowledge and wisdom. I, Ikeme, featured in many of these videos, perform and teach from the traditional Mbira dzaVadzimu repertoire, primarily Nyamaropa/Nhememusasa tuning. I perform in Nyamaropa, Mahororo,and Dambatsoko chunings.
About Me:
My name is Ikeme. I began to play Mbira at 23; since then I have been captivated by it's history, folk lore, spiritual practice, and beautiful music. I travel to Zim to learn from my teachers: Fradreck Mujuru and Garikayi Tirikoti. Both are well known for their mastery of the Mbira, each unique in his own approach and style.
I am a beginner just like you. Let's learn from each other!
My favourite songs are Shumba nGwasha, Nhimutimu(by John Kunaka), ZviChapera, Bangidza, and every other song in the Shona repertoire!
I am currently teaching beginners from the traditional Shona Mbira Dza Vadzimu repertoire. And I occasionally have Mbira from different makers for sale. Additionally, I perform lecture-demos for various private engagements, organisations, and educational institutions. You can contact me for lessons or performances via info.mbira@yahoo.com.
Learning Mbira is easy, but difficult to develop and master. Traditionally, an aspiring student will struggle to find a teacher, then beg the teacher to teach him, then maybe, just maybe you will learn something from him. Then, to develop your repertoire, you must struggle some more to learn new pieces and variation. Through which, sometimes, the only method is to sneak peeks into a deze! Having said that, I am very happy to offer MbiraOracle to the World through this YouTube Channel, it is the first interactive internet-based opportunity to learn Mbira as if you were to watch your teacher playing next to you in Zimbabwe! Open and Free! Through this medium, you will not learn everything about Mbira, but I'm wishing to popularize Mbira culture by enticing you with the teaching of the music, in hopes that you will learn to appreciate Africa and its contributions to the World. You'll find instructional and performance videos here, so stay tuned... Rugare.Sarai zvakanaka
