Nkanga zikulima

Item

Title
Nkanga zikulima
Description / content note
"Come and see how the Nkanga work in their garden." The Malimba were large trough shaped zithers, 3' 10" long supported at either end by two large gourds upon which they were held. Owing to the lowness of the notes they produced, the sound of the drums drowned them. But the three players shook their long strings of red ochred hair in most ecstatic style as they played and sang. The Zithers were tuned as follows:-103, 90, 84, 76, 63 vs. Both 76 and 63 vs had two strings each. The strings are plucked about 4 inches from one end. The spectators crowd around the small group of zither players and drummers, who sitting on the ground or standing holding their hour glass drums between their knees, jump and shake their long locks as if they were possessed. They say several hours of this performance frequently gives the performers a kind of involuntary hysteria which takes time to calm. The drums appear to be played out of tune with the rest of the performance. Dance song for Isumbi dance with 2 hour glass drums (-14.31201-), 3 Malimba trough zithers (-10.3515-), Ndwala bells (-12.55-), flat tin rattles(-12.54-).
Language
Publisher
International Library of African Music (ILAM)
Date recorded
Date issued / published
1950
Identifier
TR154
10
Is Format Of
Analog reel item
Duration (time)
00:02:27
File format
wav
Sample Rate
15 ips reel
Digitisation (original)
96000Hz 24Bit Stereo
Studer B67 Recorder
Sound Forge V.6
Rights Holder
International Library of African Music
License
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Access Rights
Public
Is Part Of
ILAM Hugh Tracey Sound of Africa Series
Format
audio/mp3
Genre
field recordings

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