Tanzania Instruments incorporates the traditional music of a number of ethnic groups. There are several frenetic, percussive dance tunes, the most exciting being those of the Zaramo and Nyamwezi peoples. The Bantu love of the buzz-factor is very much in evidence on the limba (lamellophone) recordings (tracks 4 and 5), the attached beads sounding like a telephone, such is the clarity of sound. The assortment of sounds and modes of performance within the thumb piano family as represented here is quite staggering. The aforementioned limba (7 notes) is in total contrast to the malimba (13 notes), which sounds closest of all here to the Zimbabwean mbira. The ilimba (20 notes), on the other hand, is in a very deep register, the melody pitched much lower than any of the others. Extensive further inclusion of flutes, marimbas, zithers, drums and horns make this a comprehensive and weighty guide.
