Mbira in Ancient Egypt?

By Black Technocrat
He came to what is now present-day Zimbabwe, saw the mbira instrument and recognized it right away because he had seen a very close variant of the thumb piano in the British Museum. I am talking about Theodore Bent, the British archaeologist hired by Cecil John Rhodes to carry out research excavations at the site of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe. When Rhodes passed by the site, he is reported to have immediately recognized the link between the ruined city and ancient Egypt, Rhodes being an avid Egyptophile.

Eager to find out more, Rhodes dispatched the archaeologist, Theodore Bent. It was while he was being hosted by the African people who lived around the city that Bent had the opportunity to watch and observe the daily routines of the Africans. Among the customs that that attracted his attention because of their familiarity on terms of what had been recorded concerning ancient Egypt, he recognized the mbira instrument, part of the secretive music --- ngoma dzavadzimu, what others have since dubbed the music of the gods ---- related to the process of the living communication with the dead but deified ancestors, vadzimu.

Bent had the following words to say about the people and their mbira instrument: “There is a good deal of music inherent in the Makalanga. One man in each village is recognized as the bard. One of our workmen had his piano, which was constantly at work. These pianos are very interesting specimens of primitive musical art; they have thirty or more iron keys, arranged to scale, fixed on a piece of wood about half a foot square, which is decorated with carving behind. This instrument they generally put into a gourd, with pieces of bone round the edge to increase the sound, which is decidedly melodious and recalls a spinet [small piano]. One finds instruments of a similar nature amongst the natives of the Zambesi. SPECIMENS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM OF ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME CONSTRUCTION COME FROM SOUTHERN EGYPT (my emphasis) and the Congo, pointing to the common and northern origin of most of these African races.”

I have visited the British Museum numerous times but I have not seen the mbira specimens Bent mentions on display in the public gallery. There are specimens of implements and items that are recognizably African, for example, the adze mbezo, the hoes, the bundled-grass broom mistvairo and the reed-woven tswanda baskets. The mbira specimens seen by Bent in the 19th Century, I have not seen them. Chances are they were moved from the public gallery for one reason or another, which is typical of the British Museum’s habit of subtly suppressing information and evidence that may cause some discomfort ----- I can testify to personally witnessing this suppression.

At any rate, Bent saw a replica of the mbira from Southern Egypt --- never mind his Victorian-Era arrogance of designating everything and anything non-European as primitive. This fits in with the fact that traditional functions of religious import were and are still highly conserved and, resultantly, have remained unchanged over time.

As noted by his contemporary and historian, E. B. Wallis Budge and, from a later epoch, German Egyptologist Jan Assmann, the social conservatism of the ancient Egyptians meant that customs and practices of deep spirituality did not change with time. Since the rituals were accompanied by hosho, given the fancy name of sistrum by the Egyptologists, there is no doubt that the mbira, the very same found in Southern Egypt, was also part of the esoteric music of the religious procedures, what we call mbira dzavadzimu; the music of the gods.

What Bent saw and put in his book gives credence to this supposition.

Inspired by Ndzimu-Unami Emmanuel Moyo’s book, The Rebirth of Bukalanga, in which he extensively cites Bent’s book, this is the Zimbabwean/African Factoid of the Day, I’m Bvumavaranda BTechno Moyo.

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