Ikembe
 | This article possibly contains original research. (February 2009) |
Ikembe, is a type of
lamellaphone group, common amongst the people of Rwanda, Burundi and the Congo. The instrument consists of several iron lamellae
, fixed to a rectangular wooden soundbox.
In
A.M. Jones
, quoted by Osborne that ka = small combined with the word imba = song should mean little mother of song.
Osborne cites examples of various names for these mbira from all over the continent, which have the Swahili word for song as their root. Admittedly, Swahili, like English, is not a virgin language, but rather a combination of a variety of languages making it useful for trading purposes. However, at the root it's still based on the Bantu languages of the peoples of Central and East Africa, which again is why it is so useful as a language of trade. A cursory examination of the root of these words gives us these common variations: imba, imbe and embe.
The following variations are used:
kalimba and ikembe Bahutu of Rwanda and Burundi. There are many other names for this instrument, but the predominance of names with this root is undeniable. The spelling is not as important as the sound that is made in vocalizing the names.[1]
References
- ^ "Swahili-English translation for "imba"". Retrieved 23 September 2012.
- Anderson, Lois. The Miko Modal System of UCLA, 1968.
- Greenwood Press, 1976.
- Wiggins, Trevor and Joseph Kobom. Xylophone music from Ghana. Crown Point, IN: White Cliffs Media, 1992.
- Warner Dietz, Betty and Olatunji, Michael Babatunde. (1965). Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use, and Place in The Life of a Deeply Musical People. New York: John Day Company.
- Ottenberg, Simon. Seeing with Music: The Lives of 3 Blind African Musicians. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1996
Journal articles
- Tracey, Hugh, 'A Case for the Name Mbira' in the African Music Society Journal, no. 3 (1964)
External links
- World Musical Instrument Database. New York City: ARChive of Contemporary Music
- World Music and Percussion, Frame Drums, Riq, Tambourines, by N. Scott Robinson
- Origin of Southern African marimbas, by Andrew Tracey
- The ku-marker in Swahili, by Anna-Lena Lindfors
- Ethnologue.com – languages
- Soundclick artist: Fatai Rolling Dollar
- The Royal Museum for Central Africa's ethnomusicological archive of instruments and recordings from Central Africa.