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Mbira dzavadzimu

Katsanzaira
D# / Eb (closest chromatic pitch)
24
Buzzers removed.
Rodrigo Laje
2022
Made out of Brazilian Acacia wood by Rodrigo Laje in Cordoba, Argentina in 2022. Magnets and a removable buzzer plate with shells added by David Reeks.

Tuning recorded by David Reeks in 11/2024. Photos by David Reeks.

Regarding the name "Katsanzaira tuning", Erica Azim wrote on Facebook: "I may have been the first to use the name Katsanzaira. Many years ago Ephat [Mujuru] gave me an mbira that tuning, not considering it a different or special tuning. At the time, I didn’t really get into playing that mbira but Forward Kwenda visited and really got into playing it. We didn’t have a name for the tuning and I used to call it "? tuning" on his cassettes. I kept nagging him to ask spirits in a ceremony what we should call it until he reported that we should call it Katsanzaira and told me it meant the first gentle raindrops before a storm."
David Reeks
Please get in touch.
São Paulo, Brazil

Click on a picture to enlarge.