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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Zimbabwean Mbira Music and Modern Spirituality in the Western United States

Lindroth, James, Lindroth
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1524241138090042

Abstract Details

2018, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Music.
Zimbabwean music found its way to the Western United States through a visiting artist in the ethnomusicology department at University of Washington in the 1960s. In this paper, I look at some of the consequential musical practices that have spread throughout the United States since then. More specifically, I look the mbira dzavadzimu, a lamellophone from the Shona people of Zimbabwe, and the role its music has taken on within the North American Zimbabwean music community. I examine the ways the music also fits within movements of modern spirituality, defined by the borrowing of foreign practices as a means of accessing “spiritual experiences.” I trace a history of the instrument through the United States, as well as the spread and attention to it within both the North American musicking community and scholarship. I then describe the “spiritual” felt by mbira players and how the sociality inherent to the performance of the instrument helps define said spiritual experiences. Finally, I describe the practices of American mbira players and the ways engaging with the music authentically allows them access to heightened affective states. This document serves the purpose of showing the ways mbira dzavadzimu is positioned within modern spirituality and the idiosyncrasies of mbira performance as a spiritual practice.
Ryan Skinner (Advisor)
Isaac Weiner (Committee Member)
Michelle Wibbelsman (Committee Member)
93 p.
Music

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lindroth, Lindroth, J. (2018). Zimbabwean Mbira Music and Modern Spirituality in the Western United States [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1524241138090042

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lindroth, Lindroth, James. Zimbabwean Mbira Music and Modern Spirituality in the Western United States. 2018. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1524241138090042.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lindroth, Lindroth, James. "Zimbabwean Mbira Music and Modern Spirituality in the Western United States." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1524241138090042

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1524241138090042
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© 2018, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.