Forward Kwenda: Tadzungaira - Mbira Video Lessons
Learn how to play mbira with Forward Kwenda : Tadzungaira video lessons
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Four video tutorials to help you learn the traditional mbira song, Tadzungaira/Todzungaira
Forward teaches basic Kushaura and Kutsinhira parts and then demonstrates his unique style of improvisation
He plays in two different tunings: The first pair of videos are in D Nyamaropa Tuning, and the second are in Nemakonde Tuning (a low Gandanga/Mavembe mbira tuning closest to the Western scale, F phrygian)
Forward’s Tadzungaira note choices match best with Mbira Chord Progression 4 in his Nyamaropa examples, and Mbira Chord Progression 6 in his Nemakonde examples
In Tadzungaira, each chord lasts for six beats instead of the typical four
Filmed in Masvingo with views across to Great Zimbabwe
Further information, and a 🗺 ‘travel diaries’ post below for extra interest/context
⭐️ Typical cycle, ⭐️⭐️ 1.42 - 2.25 (3 cycles).
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 0.56 - 6.35 (Entire performance 25 cycles).
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Use the ‘⭐️⭐️⭐️’ gradings beneath notated videos to help you choose variations at your preferred level
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Further Information
Forward’s approach demonstrates how to achieve a similar ‘flavour’ across different mbira tunings:
On Nyamaropa instruments, note 4 sounds closest to the root note of a major/ionian scale - and here he plays Tadzungaira/Todzungaira in progression 4.
On Gandanga/Mavembe instruments (the family of tunings that Nemakonde belongs within) note 6 has a similar ‘root feel’, and he plays the song in progression 6.
Look out for other versions of Tadzungaira that are built upon different Mbira Chord Progressions.
Progression 1 is a common choice. Mbira.Online artist, Nyamasvisva plays Tadzungaira in lots of different progressions.
All of this can get confusing. There’s a number of approaches as to what makes each mbira song unique, and why ‘different’ songs are given the same name…
Sometimes a song keeps its name when the same notes are played, but on differently tuned instruments
Sometimes a song will keep its name when its notes are moved up or down (transposed) to produce a similar sound upon a different instrument
Sometimes it’s the words that are sung that give a song its name
It can also be a specific melody line, or the position of the beat that differentiates one song from another
Explore all of this, and more, in your free ‘Learn Mbira’ course. You’ll learn lots of different variations for the traditional Shona songs Nhemamusasa and Tadzungaira, discover the fascinating structure that unites them, and master the essentials of mbira improvisation.
Travel Diaries 🗺
Tadzungaira is one of the top two mbira songs searched for online (along with Nhemamusasa) - and Forward’s haunting renditions are among the most popular.
Because of this, when we asked our subscribers which traditional mbira song tutorials they would like us to record, we weren’t surprised to find Tadzungaira at the top of the list.
And, as with so many other songs that we recorded together, our story about Tadzungaira is magical…
The eagle has landed… 🦅
Driving up to our final recording site, Forward and I watched as an Eagle came down to land - sitting proudly were we would soon be sat.
For us this symbolised a great blessing for the work we were doing together - because throughout our weeks of recording, for hours upon hours each day, we had known that Tadzungaira (our final and most requested song), would be filmed right here - on this plateau overlooking the ancient site of Great Zimbabwe.
I took the photo from our car as we both looked on in awe.
The ruins that our eagle was facing are thought to have once been the capital of a great kingdom - from which the country now takes its name, ‘Zimbabwe’. This giant, stone complex is also where the oldest metal mbira tines are thought to have been found. So, for many mbira players, Great Zimbabwe is considered to be the spiritual home of mbira.
There were once eight soapstone carvings on the site. Seven of these ‘Zimbabwe Birds’ have since been returned from foreign lands. The stylised bird is an important national emblem that appears on the Zimbabwean flag 🇿🇼 and currency. Many believe it to be the Fish Eagle, ‘Hungwe’.
That we had planned to be here, and then to be greeted by this special creature overlooking such a special place, made the moment especially precious to us both.
And we were about to record Tadzungaira too…
Tadzungaira is often considered to be ‘a prayer to end all human suffering’. Some translations suggest ‘we are wandering’ - a cry to whoever might hear, and soothe, the pains and losses that life inevitably brings us all.
This powerful lament is then an anthem for the human condition - and suffering, shared is one of the greatest unifiers of people.
We couldn’t have known that less that a year later the world would be faced with a global pandemic. In response, and because of mbira’s role in accessing healing and guidance, I asked the international mbira community what song we should choose as our unity prayer. Forward’s videos became the backbone of our first global mbira ceremony where mbira players worldwide would come together to learn, pray through, and share performances of the song, Tadzungaira (full details and contributor playlist available in the pack).
After we finished recording Forward’s Tadzungaira I took another picture - a few hundred metres from where we had been sat.
On the horizon you can see two points of interest: the dark peak to the right is that of Great Zimbabwe; and the homestead silhouetted against the setting sun is that of James Matanda, the then leader of Great Zimbabwe Mbira Group who welcomes visitors to our homepage with his mbiras.