The mbira has metal tongues, or lamellae, that are plucked with the thumbs and sometimes the fingers.
An mbira consists of staggered metal strips fixed to a soundboard, often placed inside a resonating body or calabash. Players pluck the strips to produce tuned notes, while the instrument’s buzzing elements and resonator add a distinctive texture.
The mbira is especially associated with the Shona people of Zimbabwe, where it has important musical, social and spiritual roles. The mbira dzavadzimu, meaning “mbira of the ancestors,” is one particularly significant form. Different regional instruments can vary in construction, tuning and name.
The term “kalimba” is often used broadly for thumb pianos, but it is not always a precise substitute for mbira. Hugh Tracey popularized the name kalimba for a commercially developed instrument in the twentieth century, while traditional mbiras belong to older African performance traditions.