What’s New on This Site?

Date: 18 June 2010

1. RENOLD & SAUTION SHONHAI will co-teach the summer 2010 MBIRA Camps - they have their visas and plane tickets and are confirmed!!!

2. Look at photos of mbira makers at work on this site.

3. Become a fan of the "MBIRA the non-profit" page on Facebook for the lastest updates on CD releases, photos of Zimbabwean musicians and dancers, and more. Also, note our new email system - sign up on our email list from the home page, and choose which lists you'd like to be on. You also need to add MBIRA/erica@mbira.org to your email address book so our emails won't be considered spam.

4. MBIRA audio- and video-recorded 66 new musicians and dancers never recorded before (!), during our February 2010 trip to Zimbabwe. Not only more fabulous mbira players, but also drumming/singing/dancing groups in villages in Nyanga, Guruve, Murehwa, Chiweshe, and Chiduku. Keep checking for new audio and video releases as we process these.

5. You can buy many many tunings of mbiras, from 18 Zimbabwean makers, right on this website: Buy mbira. Also now available: First Mbira Lessons DVD, available with or without an mbira to play the lessons on.

6. Now on the site: mbira accessories - fiberglass dezes, thumbpicks, mbira bubble zipbags, bangles, etc. ***NEWEST ITEM: retso, the fabric Zimbabwean mbira players get as an offering to the spirits that help them to play mbira.

7. Shona language books available on this site: Shona Lessons for Mbira Students (text and recording) by Patience Chaitezvi, and Learning Shona, recently reprinted in Zimbabwe.

8. There is still space in all summer and fall MBIRA workshops, throughout the US, and in Canada, the spring 2011 Argentina Mbira Camp is also scheduled for Easter week. See Event Calendar.

9. CDs in the catalog now have sound samples, and the covers are up too. Take a look and listen to the catalog!

10. MBIRA accepts Paypal and credit and debit cards for all online payments (as well as checks, money orders, and cash): workshop fees, instruments, etc. etc. Many items can be paid for over this (www.mbira.org) website. *NEW* Workshop payments may be made to MBIRA with onine balnking (free!!!) - email us if you don't know how to do this. There will be an additional 5% charge to cover credit processing for workshop payments paid at www.paypal.com to MBIRA (erica@mbira.org). For purchases made on this site (www.mbira.org), the credit processing fee is included in your shipping charge.

11. Note the latest CDs - new 2009 and 2010 recordings and new practice CDs - added to the MBIRA catalog at Latest Recordings.

12. To help us support over 220 traditional musicians all over Zimbabwe, add a tax-deductible donation to your order, or just click on the DONATE button on the homepage

MBIRA is also enrolled at escrip.com - sign up there and stores where you shop, including online merchants, will donate a percentage of your purchase price to MBIRA, at NO charge to you!

13. The MBIRA online catalog allows you to Search for recordings by many different criteria, or order an mbira, MBIRA t-shirt or sweatshirt, or an ebony mbira player sculpture, then pay by credit card, or mail in your order if you prefer. Or browse all our CDs. These recordings support 220 traditional musicians in Zimbabwe.

14. MBIRA T-shirts feature our mbira logo, shown at the top of this page (better quality of the same graphic on the shirts!). We have a wide selection of colors in sizes from S to XXL. We also have cuddly hooded sweatshirts, and babydoll tees for women. All have the MBIRA logo, just like the regular tees.