Mbira dza vadzimu
Is not your everyday
Run-of-the-mill
Musical instrument.
Hence the name: Mbira dza vadzimu
It is the conduit
Linking the nether world of the living,
The here and now,
With the spiritual realm of the ancestors;
Thru the person and agency of the spirit medium,
The shaman, yes;
Who, by strumming out those ancient tunes and sounds
On his ‘thumb piano’,
Instantly invokes and transmits messages
Sent thru him in his dreams
As in his wake
as he walks about
Mingling and interacting
With ordinary mortals
Cajoling
beckoning
and Guiding them
to their ultimate moment of freedom
saying to them: ‘chimurenga, vana va sekuru!
For the day of thy freedom is nigh’
 Pamberi ne chimurenga, pamberi!

© Kagiso ‘Dubla’ Senthufhe