On these pages you will learn how to build a matepe.
Over the course of a week, we recorded the entire process in which Sekuru Chawasarira builds an instrument and explains the steps involved, and edited it into 57 instructional videos.
During the recordings, we noticed that although you learn a lot when a master craftsman shows and explains his work, he does everything correctly from the start and does not run into the same problems as a beginner.
So the idea was born that Kuda Samora Nyaruwabvu would afterwards build his own instrument and ask Chawasarira for advice whenever he faced difficulties (“Matepe Clinic”).
Sekuru explains how to build a matepe
If you consider building your own mbira, watch this video about tools and materials used in the process:
Chawasarira’s showing everything you need to make matepe.
We only left out the anvil, a piece of railroad track mounted on a tree stump
