This easy to transport little musical instrument is made from a small rectangular wooden board with a set of 11 flattened metal keys of different lengths. The surface of this board has a carved decorative pattern of parallel lines and crosses.  Despite its name, sometimes fingers as well as thumbs are used to play the thumb piano. (Don’t confuse the mbira with the marimba, which is a large xylophone played with a beater or stick.)

The mbira is an ancient instrument played in many sub-Saharan countries. It is known by many different names: Likembe, Mbila, Thumb Piano, Mbira Huru, Mbira Njari, Mbira Nyunga Nyunga, Sansa, Karimbao,and Kalimba.  Some versions have a hollow body with hole in it that acts as a resonator to deepen the sound. Sometimes bottle tops or shells are attached to the soundboard to create a buzzing sound when the instrument is played.

The mbira is known to the Shona people of Zimbabwe as the mbira dzavadzimu ("voice of the ancestors") and is regarded as the national instrument of Zimbabwe.