News Archive
For details about this website's software updates, see history.Mbira donation
1/2025 SR is delighted to receive a donation of ten mbiras in F# Gandanga tuning from Klaus-Peter Brenner, who formerly taught at the University of Göttingen.
Mana embudzi
1/2024 The mana embudzi from central Mozambique is now the tenth mbira type supported by SR.
Matepe Preservation Project
5/2023 Funded by German government, we will document the repertoire and matepe making process of 82-year-old master musician Chaka Chawasarira. matepe.org »
Kalimba mudoko
3/2023 With the kalimba mudoko from central Mozambique, SR now supports nine different mbira types.
Mbira diversity in rural Mozambique
9/2022 Tatenda Cangola and SR teamed up to give media visibility to kalimba players and makers from the Manica and Tete borderlands. Learn more and join our fundraiser!
Mbila dzamadeza
12/2022 The mbila dzamadeza from South Africa's Limpopo province is the eighth supported type of mbira on SR.Muchatera Mujuru's mbira
9/2022 Added samples and animation for Muchatera Mujuru's historical mbira huru, featuring a left index finger manual.
Mbira dzaVaNdau transcriptions
8/2022 The 20+ transcriptions from Andrew Tracey's recent article The Mbira of the Ndau: Mozambique and Zimbabwe in 1972 are now available on SR.
Microtuning comparison
4/2022 Listen to the same mbira tuned to equi-heptatonic, AMI karimba, Western mixolydian scales, thanks to the help of mbira maker Sebastian Pott.
The Art of Mbira Playing
4/2022 About sixty mbira dzavazimu transcriptions from Gerd Grupe's book Die Kunst des Mbira-Spiels are now available on SR.
Learn Mbira dzaVaNdau
1/2022 Start learning the mbira dzaVaNdau with our 5-piece introductory course taught by Solomon Madhinga from Chipinge.
Nyunga Nyunga transcriptions
5/2021 New nyunga nyunga pieces from the repertoire of mbira & marimba teacher and maker Barnabas Ngalande, featuring simple and more embellished parts for students on different levels to play together.
Starting point of the day
2/2021 Increase chances of finding the new in the familiar with randomised starting points and other playback options. A feature inspired by Erica Azim.
Mbira dzaVaNdau
2/2021 With the addition of the nowadays very rare hexatonic mbira dzaVaNdau, SR supports all major Zimbabwean mbira types.Mobile phone sampling
1/2021 Seven mbiras from either the workshop or collection of Othnell 'Mangoma' Moyo prove that even mobile phone recordings with low levels may be perfectly usable for SR playback.
Instrument gallery
1/2021 Explore pictures and metadata of all instruments on SR in the new gallery.
Karimba and nyonganyonga animation
12/2020 Karimba and nyonganyonga transcriptions get animated vizualization, too.Njari
11/2020 Most widespread a century ago, today almost vanished, SR supports this polymorphic member of the mbira family as the sixth instrument type.'Art of Mbira' transcription pool
10/2020 Owners of The Art of Mbira and Mbira's Restless Dance books who want to learn pieces using SR's features are invited to join our transcription pool. Just send a note.
New tunings
10/2020 Favourite mbira dzavadzimu, hera, and njari tunings by mbira makers and players Fradreck Mujuru, Tute Chigamba, Rinos Mukuwurirwa, Newton Cheza Chozengwa, Chaka Chawasarira, Josam Nyamukuvhengu, Kenneth Kabaya
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Nzwananai Burial Society
10/2020 We're celebrating the release and good reviews of The Zonke Family's first album with a little series of ngoma videos from their home in Nyamapanda, Zimbabwe.
Analytic mbira notation
7/2020 A powerful and expressive tool for analyzing and composing mbira pieces, and transforming their harmonic and rhythmic structure.Learn more (click on the "Analytic" tab) »
Timbila sounds for mbira playback
7/2020 Using samples of Augusto Manhiça's mbila (and additional synthesized keys), you can now play back mbira dzavadzimu and matepe pieces with this gorgeous sound and tuning. Demo Video »
Tsoro Arts videos
7/2020 To support their fundraising, SR is releasing a series of documentary clips of a public rehearsal afternoon at Tsoro Arts Center (Facebook and Youtube).
Cosmas Magaya / John Kunaka tuning
7/2020 In memory of late mbira master Cosmas Magaya, the sound of his mbira, recorded in Feb. 2020, is now the new default for mbira dzavadzimu playback.
Animated Mbira
6/2020 Animated visualization of mbira dzavadzimu and matepe scores.Mbira Diversity growing
6/2020 Sympathetic Resonances' Mbira Diversity group on Facebook meanwhile passed 1000 members.
The Zonke Family album on presale
6/2020 An outcome of a 4-nights recording session at Philophon studios in Berlin in March 2019, the matepe ensemble's first album will available in September.
Art of Mbira notations
3/2022 Update: Removed feature
Interviews and recorded tunings
2/2020 Meetings with Fradreck Mujuru, Jacob Mafuleni, Forward Kwenda, Tute Chigamba, Chaka Chawasarira, Silika Gomo, Rinos Mukuwurirwa, Newton Gwara, Cosmas Magaya, Leonard Chiyanike, Anthony Zonke, Chief Goronga, John Karima, Albert Chimedza, Kenneth Kabaya in Zimbabwe to discuss the SR project, mbira and tuning diversity, and preservation issues. 20+ of the makers' favoured tunings will be available on SR soon.Learn to Play Mbira (with Forward Kwenda)
Fungai Gahadzikwa Mbira Song Book 1
8/2019
As a convenience for his customers, Andy Fowler of mbiramagic.com
started hosting transcriptions from his books on SR.
Shortcut to access this website
5/2019 http://symres.org now forwards to https://sympathetic-resonances.org/.
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