mbiran.
/(ə)mˈbɪərə/, U.S. /(ə)mˈbɪrə/ 1. = mbila n.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > percussion instrument > [noun] > xylophone > other xylophone types
ballarda1382
ballards1623
sticcado1776
balafon1797
straw-fiddle1867
mbila1928
gamelan1934
mbira1948
mbira1948
1948 Newslet. Afr. Music Soc. No. 1. 20 We met a group of musicians, six mbira players... Mr. Tracey got three of the mbiras to be played without their gourd resonators and the other three to be played with resonators.
2. Any of several small hand-held musical instruments of southern Africa, consisting of a series of wooden or metal keys attached to a resonator, with one end of each key free to be plucked with the thumb and forefingers. Cf. sansa n.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > other musical instruments > [noun] > sansa
ambira1625
marimba1856
sansa1864
marimbula1931
likembe1948
mbira1948
thumb piano1952
lamellophone1953
rumba box1953
kalimba1968
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > percussion instrument > [noun] > xylophone > other xylophone types
ballarda1382
ballards1623
sticcado1776
balafon1797
straw-fiddle1867
mbila1928
gamelan1934
mbira1948
mbira1948
1948 H. Tracey Ngoma i. 11 The man who plays the Mbira must first practice for a long while before his thumbs will strike the keys in the right way.
1961 Afr. Mus. 2 iv. 20 All the instruments of this family of plucked idiophones share the same generic name of Mbira within the South Eastern territories of Africa.
1966 New Yorker 4 June 27/3 He was making music with a mbira, a kind of African hand-piano. His brother..was accompanying him on a kalimba..which is a modern version of the mbira.
1975 M. Hartmann Game for Vultures iii. 35 From the kraal there came the blurred, repetitive rhythm of an mbira. A penny whistle joined in.
1992 Option July 111/3 Maraire's voice and mbira, and an African-American gospel choir combine magnificently.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1948