Preserving Matepe music
in the 21st century

This site hosts:

  • A comprehensive masterclass in playing matepe, consisting of 120+ video tutorials taught by master musician Chaka Chawasarira
  • A documentation of the 50+ hour process of building a matepe, starting from a block of wood and a pile of scrap metal

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Project Blog

  • Central Mozambique mbira album recordings

    Central Mozambique mbira album recordings

    This post is not related to the matepe project, but certainly wouldn’t be here without it. In late 2022, Tatenda Cangola and I started the self- and donation-funded project Visibility for Kalimba makers and players in rural Mozambique. For various reasons, including the matepe project, we had to take a longer break. Three weeks ago…

  • Celebrating matepe.org first milestone

    Celebrating matepe.org first milestone

    Today we’re celebrating our first big milestone: All music teaching videos are online! With the exception of Paul Berliner and Cosmas Magaya’s opus magmum Mbira’s Restless Dance, this is the largest effort that I know of to document a mbira tradition. Unlike an academic publication, our focus is on cultural preservation. The primary target audience…

  • Harare concert rehearsal

    Harare concert rehearsal

    Last Thursday, this illustrious group of mbira musicians met to rehearse the Matepe 21st presentation concert that will take place on the 15th of March at the Goethe Zentrum Harare / Zimbabwe German Society. Admission free. Chaka Chawasarira, Forward Kwenda, Jacob Mafuleni, Hope Masike, Othnell ‘Mangoma’ Moyo, Taffie Matiure, Nancy Nasibo Mutize, Mary Anibal, Leo…

  • New matepe.org

    New matepe.org

    After months of hard work, we are pleased to present the first batch of learning videos on matepe.org! We’ve started with Kuvachenjedza and Marume azere dare, plus a page about drumming and clapping. Many more will follow in the next few days. Samora cut and edited all videos, after which I optimised the audio to…

  • Andrew Tracey’s transcriptions

    Andrew Tracey’s transcriptions

    Yesterday the memorial service for Andrew Tracey took place at Makhanda Cathedral (edited live stream here). In addition to the Christian liturgy, there were a number of wonderful musical and spoken contributions from friends and students around the world. While following the ceremony I was organising some videos of casual conversations that we had recorded…

  • Transatlantic Impulse Response

    Transatlantic Impulse Response

    2024 will see a series of concerts to make the Matepe, our preservation efforts and their support from the Federal Foreign Office visible to a wider audience in Zimbabwe and Germany. On the German side, Transatlantic Impulse Response will soon take the stage – a collaboration between our team member Othnell “Mangoma” Moyo and Fabiano…

  • Matepe master class at Music Crossroads Harare

    Matepe master class at Music Crossroads Harare

    Yesterday Sekuru, assisted by Mangoma, gave a 90-minute master class to students of the Music Crossroads Harare academy. Katrin Simon of the German Embassy had arranged this event with academy director Melody Zambuko already at our dinner in June. The class received a great response. When asked who wanted to continue with Matepe, about 15…

  • Transcendental Matepe sounds in Berlin Mitte

    Transcendental Matepe sounds in Berlin Mitte

    Saturday night, Robert Machiri was DJing Rega kuchema hurombo from Chaka Chawasarira’s album-in-the-making at ifa-Galerie, at the finissage of their installation A SACRED STORY AT THE TREE OF LIFE:

  • Playing the new matepe together with Sekuru`s old

    Playing the new matepe together with Sekuru`s old

    After all the processes, it time to hear how this new matepe, the work of a student sounded like when played together with Sekuru`s old and regulary tuned Matepe.

  • Matepe student product assessment

    Matepe student product assessment

    Time to hear what sekuru Chawasarira thinks about the Matepe I made using the knowledge I got from him.

  • Matepe student product testing

    Matepe student product testing

    Testing is done on every step of Matepe making but the sound is never true until the instrument is complete and taken through a series of vigorous playing and tuning. Kuda goes through a testing after finishing his Matepe.

  • Using fire to decorate Matepe

    Using fire to decorate Matepe

    So exited with the progress and the way this Matepe is looking, I couldn´t wait to get to the stage of derocating it. It is a cold, windy day and having not so dry wood, bringing the fire to life has become a challenge. I copy Sekuru´s chevron design using a flattened hot iron rod…