The Soul of Mbira: Music and Traditions of the Shona People of Zimbabwe

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