Marimbas are wooden-keyed, xylophone-like instruments that are played by striking individual keys with mallets. For performances, individual resonators hang beneath each wooden note to amplify the sound. Zimbabwean music on marimbas is easy to play (yet difficult to master!), and students in a group are playing a song after only one workshop together.
Hosho are shakers made from the dried shells of Zimbabwean wild fruits. Deceptively difficult to play, hosho are filled with hota seeds, stones, pebbles, or other types of seeds. Hosho are played in pairs, one in each hand, and often accompany mbira and marimba music.
The mbira is one of the Shona peoples’ traditional instruments. It is a set of 22 – 28 carefully shaped and sized metal keys that are mounted on a rectangular, wooden sound board and are plucked with the fingers. Often, two mbira are played together to create interlocking melodies and rhythms. One musician plays a kushaura part, while the second musician plays a kutsinhira part. The mbira is mounted inside a large, dried, hollowed gourd that looks like a bowl. This resonating chamber is called deze. Bottle caps or snail shells are attached to the mouth of the deze to create a characteristic buzzing.
