Re: Thumb Piano/high fidelity

[Tim Nelson <tcn62@ici.net>]

The fact that the mbira thread and the signal splitting thread are running
almost simultaneously presents quite a contrast. While we talk a lot about
signal degradation, sampling rates, noise reduction, etc., a funny thing
about the mbira as it's used in western Africa is that they''ll hammer
bottlecaps flat and nail 'em onto their mbiras so the caps'll rattle and
buzz, giving the sound "character". In this light, I guess even technical
standards and specs are a cultural thing! (Think of the Jamaican dub
producers who were prizing their old analog delays for their lo-fi
character while the rest of the world was telling them they were obsolete.
Context is everything!)

Tim

(That 60Hz buzz coming outa my rack is annoying, but do you think if I
preface my playing by saying it's intentional I'll fool anyone?)

At 04:16 PM 11/30/99 -0500, you wrote:
>One final note:  the "thumb piano" which is found all throughout 
>sub-Saharan
>Africa goes by many names in various African languages.  It's known in
>various forms in different countries as "sanza," "mbira," "likemba,"
>"kalimba," "karimba," etc.