Mukhambira

Quest for Knowledge as Solutions to Global Problems! Creativity is the Way!

Education 

As an impact of colonialism and an indices of it's prevalence in form of coloniality, the concept of Education in many African countries continues to be inigmatic, thus, confusing instead of enlightening the colonized Africans, and so, hindering the development and sustainability of African cultures -For many education is only the one that is administered in the Western form of schools, teaching Western designed contents in Western approaches. This is, actually, misaligned with the reality of Africa.

Thereafter, came a conceptual differentiation between what became to be known as formal from informal education. Informal education, therefore, refers to that given to children by their parents at home, family, and the community as a whole, while the one provided in schools is considered to be the formal education. 

It should be observed that the so called informal education, is the very one that lays at the very foundation of our societies, and has been sustaining African societies for thousands of years, fostering their harmonious and ecological interaction with their environment. It is through this form of education that the children learn relevant skills required for their daily life in their own environment, e.g. boys learn to build houses, to make house utensils, to forge iron or carve wood and make the various tools, while girls learn how to look after the house, nurse the children, process crops, and both genders learn about the various principles, social norms, history, social relations, interaction, etc.

However, this education format is, unfortunately, downplayed, a fact which affects our own sense of  identity, resulting in the desintegration of the society, devoiding its members from a common cultural ground. This detriment promotes interpersonal misunderstandings and conflicts within family and society; derpives the community members from sharing the prioritary and relevant skills that they need in their daily life, livi g them to rely on imported knowledge, technologies, and products.

The image below, whose subtitles provide additional testemonials, is a documentation of a so called "informal school", at the late Ernesto Mathusi's home, where after "formal school", children gather to learn how to build and play musical instruments and other household untensils.

Education 

Marimba lessons with students from the Hochschule für Music Franz Liszt Weimar.

Novas Perspectivas e Abordagens no Estudo de Músicas Africanas (Video temporarily unavailable)

Ressonâncias Atlânticas 19 April at 19:56 · Nesta quinta 22/04 às 14h30 receberemos o ilustre artista musical, musicólogo e construtor de instrumentos moçambicano Luka Mukhavele com sua palestra "Novas Perspectivas e Abordagens no Estudo de Músicas Africanas”, compondo o ciclo "Matizes Musicais da Música Brasileira”. Link para a transmissão: https://youtu.be/zBEN_VfnZUk Luka Mukhavele é o multiinstrumentista e pesquisador fundador do ateliê Mukhambira Musical, pilar central na história da mbira em Moçambique, que investiga música e instrumentos musicais tradicionais, sobretudo moçambicanos e africanos. Mukhambira propiciou a construção, disseminação, ensino e reavivamento de lamelofones em Maputo e posteriormente por todo Moçambique. O projeto pioneiro desenvolveu seus próprios métodos, utilizando e integrando tecnologias e sistemas de conhecimento modernos e indígenas de maneira criativa e, ao mesmo tempo, científica, para criar novos modelos de mbira. Atualmente, Luka desenvolve sua tese de doutorado "Desafios e Potencialidades dos Instrumentos Musicais Traditionais em Contextos Contemporâneos: Xizambi, Mbira, e Xim- bvokombvoko" na Universidade de Música Franz Liszt de Weimar, Alemanha. https://www.mukhambira-musical.online Matizes da Música Brasileira traz especialistas, em sentido amplo, em matizes ibéricos (Napoleão Ribeiro), africanos (Luka Mukhavele), árabes (Márcia Dib) e indígenas (Marlui Miranda) para compartilharem seus saberes dentro da disciplina de Pós-Graduação em Música da UFPB “Ressonâncias Atlânticas na Música Brasileira” ministrada por Nina Graeff, para que ressoem com as experiências musicais dos estudantes. sobre práticas que cruzam o oceano atlântico e o território brasileiro, se multiplicando na sua diversidade musical. A iniciativa faz parte do projeto de Iniciação Científica “Ressonâncias Atlânticas” da UFPB.

African Musicology: Marimba, Mbira, and Musical Bows in a Contemporary Global Context: Use of the Tablature for the study of the Nyunganyunga Mbira

For analysis and academic purposes  a tablature has been developed, which enables the transcription of mbira music in a graphical format. The numbers on the keys are written in the boxes of the tablature, in the sequences and/or combinations that the corresponding key are plucked for each tune; and, the pitches available on the instrument are indicated on each key, in the image below.