Station: [60] Lamellaphone

I exist in Africa, only in Africa.

In Zimbabwe, I am the national instrument.

I’m called a lamellaphone because of my tongues.

They are made of metal, palm leaf or bamboo. Sometimes, I only have three, and sometimes up to 52. They are attached to a plank or a gourd.

Among the Shona, they’re called mazwi, which means “voices”.

The voices talk to each other, just like people do.

What part do I play in society?

I honour the ancestors.

I have healing powers.

I am nourishing, like water, more than a thousand years old.

I create looping melodies that have a trance-like effect.

I am present in possession ceremonies, in the struggle for liberation and in the battle of the sexes.

I create a collective consciousness.

Those who know playing me become creative – in the composition of variations and in improvised song.