Nyonganyonga / Malimba

This instrument class represents the nyonganyonga or malimba, mostly found among the Barwe, Gorongozi, and Sena people in Mozambique, according to Andrew Tracey's article The Original African Mbira?. Other than the similar name it has little in common with the popular 15-key karimba called nyunga-nyunga.
29-key nyonganyonga
of Barwe origin (TIC 153)
 
    
31-key nyonganyonga
with LI5, RT6, and RI6/ keys
by Bazari Kaingo (TIC 154)
The nyonganyonga is a close relative of the matepe / madhebhe / hera. Compared to the matepe, the right-hand side is lowered, and the left-hand side raised by one octave each. Other than that, the LI manual is extended to 5, sometimes up to 7 keys, and the two lowermost LU keys are omitted, so that this manual (in Pitch.1 notation) starts with the scale degree 1 and follows the characteristic 1-5-4-6-7-1' sequence (from bottom up) also found on the mbira dzavadzimu and on the matepe.

As the number of keys on both ends of each rank is quite variable among different instruments, the LU1 key (starting the aforementioned characteristic sequence) is chosen as the instrument's reference key.

Currently there are two notations. They are called

All of them employ an additional track for Hosho [down]beats (denoted by a dot ".").

There are five playing areas:

  • LI: Keys played with the left index finger
  • LU: Left thumb upper manual
  • LL: Left thumb lower manual
  • RI: Keys played with the right index
    There is no fixed transition point between keys played with the right thumb and index finger. It varies from instrument to instrument (possibly from player to player, or piece to piece). On the instruments of the ILAM collection, the thumb goes up to the 7th scale degree, the index finger down to the 5th.
  • RT: Keys played with the right thumb
    The number of keys on the right hand side of the instrument is variable on both ends. Among the instruments of the ILAM collection, the lowest thumb note is the 6th scale degree (others are 7th and 1st).
All notations are convertible to and from Pitch.1. If a direct translation between two notations is not available, use an intermediate step across Pitch.1.

Click on the tabs below for a description of each notation:

Scale degrees are numbered from 1 to 7; 1 being the lowest key of the LU manual. It is the same as the Pitch+Octaves.1 notation, with all octave indication omitted where it can be deduced from the playing area.

Key Overview
The table below shows all keys of the notation, from lowest to highest. Each row contains all possible keys for that playing area. Each column contains all keys of the same pitch.

Not all instruments may have keys matching all these notes. Red notes are alias names for the same key, if it can be played with different fingers.

Hosho.
LI5671234
LU145671'
LL6723
RI4,5,67123456/
RT67123456,7,
Aliases
The table below lists all alias keys. Row names are shown in black, cell content in red.
KeyAliasNotes
RT4RI4,RT4 key played with the index finger, not the thumb
RT5RI5,RT5 key played with the index finger, not the thumb
RI6RT6,RI6 key played with the thumb, not the index finger
RI7RT7,RI7 key played with the thumb, not the index finger

Same numbers as the Pitch.1 notation, but full octave indication.

Key Overview
The table below shows all keys of the notation, from lowest to highest. Each row contains all possible keys for that playing area. Each column contains all keys of the same pitch.

Not all instruments may have keys matching all these notes. Red notes are alias names for the same key, if it can be played with different fingers.

Hosho.
LI5671'2'3'4'
LU145671'
LL6,7,23
RI4,5,6,7,123456
RT6,,7,,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,
Aliases
The table below lists all alias keys. Row names are shown in black, cell content in red.
KeyAliasNotes
RT4,RI4,RT4, key played with the index finger, not the thumb
RT5,RI5,RT5, key played with the index finger, not the thumb
RI6,RT6,RI6, key played with the thumb, not the index finger
RI7,RT7,RI7, key played with the thumb, not the index finger