Mbira Month is a 30-day, global celebration of a Zimbabwean traditional musical instrument called the mbira. Mbira Month provides an international platform for celebrating and sharing traditional spiritual aspects of Zimbabwean Shona culture with all humanity. As both a musical instrument and a type of classical music, mbira is a “telephone to the spirits” associated with centuries-old cultural practices and religious beliefs. It is a vehicle for communicating deep human spirituality, both inside modern Zimbabwe and around the contemporary world. The Center for World Music celebrates Mbira Month by sponsoring and coordinating a series of events in San Diego and in Japan—lessons, meditations, public concerts, informal presentations, and an informal get-together for mbira players in Southern California. See events here.
—Lewis Peterman, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, School of Music and Dance, San Diego State University
https://centerforworldmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/GwaraMbiraSplash.jpg418450Lewis Petermanhttps://centerforworldmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/logo_w_red_type_52.pngLewis Peterman2016-09-01 10:56:562020-12-28 10:51:28September is Mbira Month
The Center for World Music would like to recognize Garit Imhoff for his years of dedication as an outstanding teaching artist in residence for the World Music in the Schools program.
Garit Imhoff is a professional mbira player, teacher, and all-around performer, specializing in storytelling and movement. He is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts and has participated in world music ensembles for over forty-five years. He has studied and performed traditional Zimbabwean music extensively, both in the United States and in Zimbabwe, and has studied the traditional music, puppetry, and cultures of Java and Bali in Indonesia. Mr. Imhoff learned and practiced Zimbabwean music under the tutelage of many great teachers including Ephat Mujuru, Jacob Mafuleni, Stella Chiweshe, Tute Chigamba, Irene Chigamba, and Musekiwa Chingodza. As one of its cofounders, Mr. Imhoff is an active performing member of Zimbeat, a professional San Diego-based music ensemble that specializes in the traditional and popular music of Zimbabwe. He is also a performing member of Kembang Sunda, a San Diego-based traditional west Javanese gamelan orchestra.
In 2013 Mr. Imhoff was awarded a grant through the Artist Outreach Project of the Kenneth A. Picerne Foundation–funding to support teaching children in Encinitas at the Boys & Girls Club of San Dieguito. The Center for World Music partnered with the Picerne Foundation and Ticha Muzavazi, instrument builders and teacher of students with disabilities in Zimbabwe, to develop specially made small-sized Zimbabwean mbiras that could be easily played by young children. The resulting year-long project subsequently developed into Center for World Music classes in public and private primary schools throughout the County of San Diego.
Combining storytelling, dance, and singing to engage his students, Mr. Imhoff has been using the small-sized mbiras to instruct San Diego K-12 children in the compelling traditions of Zimbabwe. His music classes in the schools are supported by grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the local San Diego community.
https://centerforworldmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/for-CWM-proile.jpg368565Monica Emeryhttps://centerforworldmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/logo_w_red_type_52.pngMonica Emery2016-02-29 15:45:262017-06-23 20:54:32Garit Imhoff, Musician and Storyteller
The Center for World Music’s upcoming Passport to Worlds of Music series has been featured in the La Jolla Light.
CWM’s new executive director, Monica Emery, said she’s looking forward to introducing more people of all ages to the delights of world music. . . . ‘Our Passport concerts take place in an intimate setting, with the musicians actually walking you through their music, giving you special insights and inviting you to interact with them, as if they were in your living room. You can bring your own wine, and we’ll have some snacks too.’
Read the full article:
https://centerforworldmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Adler-Khaen.jpg6271200Lance Nelsonhttps://centerforworldmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/logo_w_red_type_52.pngLance Nelson2016-02-13 10:51:452018-07-12 11:14:47Stirring Sounds from Thailand, Zimbabwe, Iran
This article is one in a series of reports on the fascinating variety of musical instruments that audience members and students encounter through Center for World Music programs.
The mbira is a hand-held musical instrument that evolved in sub-Saharan Africa. In its many different forms, it is capable of producing both intimate singable melodies for meditation and vigorous percussive rhythms for dance. It can be used to delight and entertain, or it can be used to lend solemnity to religious ceremonies. Made from a small block of wood, with rows of tuned metal strips (lamellae) attached, the mbira naturally produces a subdued soft tone that can be amplified by placing it inside a large hollowed-out calabash gourd resonator (deze).
The mbira can be played as a solo instrument or as part of an ensemble, with other mbiras or with drums (ngoma) or rattle shakers (hosho). When two mbiras are played together, each renders a different but complementary interlocking musical part (kushaura or kutsinhira). As a native-trained teaching artist, I currently teach a type of solo mbira from Zimbabwe—the karimba—in the San Diego K-12 public schools.
— Garit Imhoff, World Music in the Schools Teaching Artist
