Zimbabwe · Metalwork / Blacksmithing (paired with musical-instrument woodworking)
Mbira (general term); mbira dzavadzimu (the 22-28-key hardwood-board type); njari (a distinct, historically dated type originating with the Njanja); gwariva (the wooden soundboard); deze (the calabash resonator); mutsigo (the small wedge stick securing the mbira inside the deze)
The construction of the mbira, a lamellaphone consisting of 22 to 28 tuned metal keys (tines) mounted on a hardwood soundboard, by Shona craftsmen of Zimbabwe, in a tradition inscribed by UNESCO in 2020 as shared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Malawi and Zimbabwe. The soundboard (gwariva) is traditionally carved from mubvamaropa wood (Pterocarpus angolensis); metal keys, historically smelted directly from iron ore, are today more commonly cut and shaped from repurposed steel -- bed springs, bicycle spokes, car seat springs, spoon handles, or spring wire -- with brass or copper keys occasionally included. The completed instrument is frequently mounted inside a calabash resonator (deze) to amplify its sound, secured in place with a small wedge stick (mutsigo); due to recurrent drought reducing calabash availability, the deze is now often made instead from molded yellow or black fiberglass. A historically documented, specifically dated variant -- the njari -- originated among the Njanja people (see CRAFT-2599) of the Buhera district, credited to two sons of a smith named Gambiza, whose new instrument's distinctive tone earned them the nickname Manjanja, from which the instrument itself took the name njari dzaManjanja; the Njanja, already renowned throughout Shona country for smelting superior-quality iron ore from Wedza Mountain and trading widely, specifically produced prized mbira requiring roughly thirty finely tuned iron reeds and skilled workmanship, traded for cattle and livestock across a wide regional network, with the njari spreading approximately 100 miles from Buhera in all directions by 1900. Early archaeological evidence of mbira production has been recovered directly from Great Zimbabwe's Hill Complex, and Portuguese missionary João de Santos documented a nine-key mbira used at the royal court of the Munhumutapa (Mutapa state king) as early as 1586, establishing a documented material and musical continuity of well over four centuries.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Inscribed 2020 (15th session of the Intergovernmental Committee) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as 'Art of crafting and playing Mbira/Sansi, the finger-plucking traditional musical instrument in Malawi and Zimbabwe' -- a shared, cross-border inscription
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