During my first trip to Harare, Zimbabwe, back in 2006, I met a musician playing mbira at a busy local market. His performance attracted a large crowd and was nothing short of mesmerising. When he realised I was an ethnomusicologist, he excitedly pulled from his backpack a well-worn copy of Paul Berliner's The Soul of Mbira (Reference Berliner1978). The cover was visibly frayed and the corners of most pages were folded over, but it had become his ‘go-to’ anthology of information, with its comments from revered local mbira players. Any question I may have had regarding whether ethnomusicology research could ignite pride within a community was quickly answered that day, and for me, The Soul of Mbira became the bar for how to conduct ethnography.
Berliner's latest book, The Art of Mbira, written some 40 years later, provides yet another approach to ethnographic research. Here, Berliner combines tenets of ethnography and biography to produce a deeply personal exploration of mbira, which he tells through the lived experiences of mbira virtuoso Cosmas Magaya (Magaya also served as research assistant on The Soul of Mbira). The Art of Mbira is by no means a straightforward historical or social account of the mbira. Rather, it offers a subjective analysis that carefully outlines what mbira means to the performers, as well as ‘the creative life of the community more generally’ (p. x). It pulls apart the process of learning mbira, including the musical vocabulary obtained during a lifetime and how it is utilised to initiate new or revised mbira compositions, establishing a host of unique, distinguishable and very personal styles. By traversing such complexities, Berliner provides an analysis that deconstructs core notions of Zimbabwean identity, tradition, community-building and national autonomy.
Magaya has made a significant impact on mbira music-making in and outside Zimbabwe, evidenced by his numerous influential recordings, his regular performance and teaching engagements across the United States (which have included frequent residencies at Duke University), and the many young Zimbabweans he has inspired through the years – including the young Harare musician I met. It is Magaya's life and influence that is commemorated in The Art of Mbira – an opportunity for Berliner to honour the ‘fruits’ of a long-time collaboration he shared with Magaya, while also sharing a study of mbira that safeguarded its distinctive legacy.
The book is separated into four parts. Part A provides the background information needed to understand the context of the book, focusing specifically on the technical and creative aspects of the mbira tradition. Chapter 1, for example, is reflective, with Berliner sharing how his relationship with Magaya started, emphasising how an equitable process of ‘testing and revising’ allowed them to develop a partnership that ‘reach[ed] across the divide of respective cultural and personal backgrounds’ (pp. 14–15). The next chapter traces the development of mbira compositions, from their ‘deep roots in “traditional” Shona religious life’ (p. 19) to their more recent secular usage. Historically, mbira was performed to remember the guardian spirits and to petition ancestral knowledge and leadership. Yet, by crossing the sacred/secular divide, mbira has acquired a new vocabulary that emphasises ‘new relationships between the [traditional] components and exploring their uses in different musical settings’ (p. 27). Chapter 3 presents the notational system used in the book, which is clear and easy to navigate. The next chapters outline the tuning and register complexities of mbira, and its basic keystrokes, while the succeeding chapters introduce specific compositional techniques that mark individual style, including a performer's reliance on variation, methods of chording and the use of dynamics. These creative techniques and devices are used by performers not only to ‘beautify the music’ but also to express their distinctive personality (p. 81). The final chapter in Part A investigates how a ‘groove’ is established in performance: each mbira player brings a unique style, creating an ‘interlocking aesthetic’ of varied approaches and techniques. ‘The task is not just about putting parts together, Cosmas advises, but of finding the right combinations, the right sounds’, necessarily involving the ‘consideration of individual parts’ textual characteristics and musical roles’ (p. 81).
Appropriately subtitled ‘A Biography of Knowledge,’ Part B connects the technical and stylistic features from Part A to Magaya's own life and experiences. In so doing, the process by which Magaya developed his own distinctive style is meticulously traced. Magaya had developed a repertoire around a ‘selective absorption’ of musical ideas from his mentors (p. 124), to which he added new modes of ornamentation, drone effects and rhythmic patterns. By ‘deepen[ing] his perspective on the mbira community's common language and individuals’ stylisation of it’, Magaya developed a ‘personal music system’ that ‘ultimately’ led him to acquire his own voice (p. 119).
In Part C, Berliner provides examples of Magaya's mbira vocabulary, meticulously detailing what musical ideas were borrowed from mentors and in what ways and for what purpose those ideas were revised, specifically emphasising ‘the values and considerations that guide[d]’ his approach (p. 119). Prominence is also placed on the performance itself, on how Magaya modified his mbira vocabulary to fit the demands of different musical settings, such as accompanying singers or dancers, or communicating with ancestors. Each compositional style must change to accommodate the specific purpose of the performance. Taking readers on what he calls a ‘narrative tour’ of mbira compositions and performances (p. 175), Berliner uses Part C to introduce the ‘rich imaginative terrain’ that has influenced Magaya's artistic development (p. 216), specifically ‘contributing to the shape of his renditions and to their singular expressivity’ (p. 218). The book ends with Part D, which comprises over 300 pages of musical examples. Most are connected to audio and visual demonstrations performed by Magaya, available as part of the book's accompanying open-access website. This makes The Art of Mbira a practical guide for younger as well as more established mbira players.
How ethnomusicologists conduct ethnography and write the history and meaning of a nation's musical practice is complicated, and throws up all kinds of questions about ethics and procedure. The Art of Mbira heralds a trend in ethnomusicology research that repositions communities as producers rather than subjects of research. This approach allows readers to learn about mbira's musical inheritance and legacy first-hand, and to gain appreciation for Magaya's ‘received repertory and performance practices – as well as the distinctive ways in which he personalised them, ultimately adding his own voice to the tradition’ (p. x).
As Magaya declared following the book's completion, ‘I know that if I die tomorrow, I can go to my grave satisfied’ (p. x), revealing the profound importance he placed on it. Magaya clearly had no idea how prophetic his announcement would be, for on 10 July 2020, he died from Covid-19 complications. The Art of Mbira, released just months before Magaya's death, today stands as celebration not only of Shona cultural knowledge, but also of Magaya's exceptional artistry and life. He was ‘one of the world's great musicians, mentors and cultural ambassadors’, an artist ‘universally loved by his following’ as Berliner penned as tribute to his friend and co-collaborator (Reference Berliner2020). The Art of Mbira is extensive and comprehensive, offering readers much to consider and theorise. As Berliner poignantly reminds us, it is Magaya's ‘legacy to future generations’ (p. x).
