Sounds of Africa, and the Mbira Thumb Piano

Jim Potts filming in Kenya

Two photos above: from a Kenyan environmental science teacher training film on sound 

The thumb piano is the ideal instrument for me! Kama Kalinyana, Elias Nelushi.
I used to have one but it has long been at the Horniman Museum, London (along with the collection I made in the 1970s of East African and Ethiopian stringed instruments, like the masenko, krar, litungu, nyayiti, and accompanying field recordings). Here are details of some of them:

Ugandan harp and thumb piano

Erica Kundidzora Azim (Zimbabwe)

Erica again

Litungu

Belgian Congo recording (Hugh Tracey)

The Hugh Tracey archive

I share the view of the CD producer:

'The song I consider Tracey's single most outstanding recording, "Chemirocha," a paean to Jimmy Rogers (yes, the country singer) by some Kenyan girls. The song is haunting but made more so by Tracey's introduction on the LP record (not included on the CD): "The mysterious singer and dancer Chemirocha has been turned into a local god Pan -- a faun -- half man, half antelope. He is urged by the girls to do the leaping dance, familiar to all Kipsigis, so energetically that he will jump clear out of his clothes... Who could resist such an offer?" Tracey concludes.' 'Chemirocha" is a sung homage by two shy girls to "Jimmy Rodgers," the famous American country singer, and is unearthly in its beauty'.

The original 10" LP

Listen to Chemirocha (Jimmie Rodgers)

Different video

Jean Bosco Mwenda, Masanga

Different video

With lyrics

Jean Bosca Mwenda 78 rpm record, bought in Kitale, Kenya ca 1976

along with many Jimmie Rodgers Regal Zonophone 78s.

Thumb Pianos: Eastern Market, Washington DC: