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The Soul of Mbira: Music and Traditions of the Shona People of Zimbabwe
Author(s): Paul F. Berliner (Author)
- Publisher: University of Chicago Press
- Publication Date: June 1, 1993
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 334 pages
- ISBN-10: 0226043797
- ISBN-13: 9780226043791
Book Description
This sensitive, scholarly portrayal of Shona musicians and the African Musical tradition is highly engaging and comprehensive in its range of data. Paul Berliner provides the complete cultural context for the music and an intimate, precise account of the meaning of the instrument and its music.
“Paul Berliner’s
The Soul of Mbira is probably the best ethnography ever written about an African musical tradition. It is a complete classic . . . . I know of no other instrument with the range of the mbira, and the book is equal to the instrument.”—John Chernoff“[
The Soul of Mbira] illustrates the fact that Shona mbira music in its beauty, subtlety, and virtuosity demands the same kind of respect that we might hold for any other classical music.”—David Reck, Parabola“The book is a model of ethnomusicological thinking and investigation and it suggests a specific way of approaching a complex socio-musical system.”—John Baily,
Popular Music“When next someone asks ‘What is ethnomusicology?’ or ‘What do ethnomusicologists do?’ I shall suggest this book. . . . This is a landmark in ethnomusicological literature. Berliner succeeds in conveying both the joy that goes with mbira playing and the mystic relationship between the player and his instrument. In short, this is humanized ethnomusicology.”—K.A. Gourlay,
EthnomusicologyEditorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
This sensitive, scholarly portrayal of Shona musicians and their musical tradition is highly engaging and comprehensive in its range of data. Paul Berliner provides the rich cultural context for the music and an intimate, precise account of the meaning of the mbira and its music.
About the Author
Paul F. Berliner is the Arts and Sciences Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Music at Duke University in North Carolina. He is the author of several books, including The Art of Mbira and Mbira’s Restless Dance, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
