rekvisita, musikinstrument, parallellsamling, mugabe [giriama]

"This instrument is played by shaking it loosely from one hand to the other, and the beat is accented with heavy strikes of the thumb, in a manner similar to the technique for the Kayamba. The instrument was named after its low, percussive sound, and practitioners are commonly found in the Giriama tribe of the the Mijikenda people. Mugabe practitioners use old, and sometimes rusty, jerrycans, called debe in Kiswahili, to create this instrument.

The top and bottom ends of a sheet of metal are folded, enclosing inside them jequirity beans (Abrus Precatorius). This plant is locally known as Turituri, and its beans may be substituted with stones of a similar size collected from the ocean. Once finished, the Mugabe looks similar to the Kayamba. Metal jerrycans are less commonly found nowadays, due to the rise in production of plastic water containers. As a result, the Mugabe tradition is slowly diminishing. The makers and practitioners of the Mugabe also happen to be practitioners of the Bung’o, given that the former is usually an accompaniment to the latter. These practitioners, however, are elderly and few. Thus, the Bung’o and Mugabe are both considered endangered instruments." - excerpt of a text written by Daniel Muhuni.