ARRAY INSTRUMENTS

Mbiras are part of a family of instruments known as lamellophones. These types of instruments usually have metal tines that are attached at one end to a solid piece of wood or a hollow wooden body. The tines are tuned by adjusting their length. Traditional mbiras and many other types of lamellophones generally have 9 to 24 notes (tines) and are tuned to a limited scale. Array mbiras contain the same notes that are found on a piano and therefore can play in any scale. Lamellophones are most commonly referred to as thumb pianos or kalimbas but are also known as mbiras, sanzas and likembes. At Array Instruments we have taken inspiration from these ancient instruments and applied the Array System of Note Arrangement to create a modern musical instrument that plays all the notes of the western 12 tone scale in up to 7 octaves. In other words, an Array mbira can be played with any instrument that shares the 12 tone scale, such as pianos/keyboards, guitars, woodwinds, strings, etc.

Also known as: Array Mbira