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| About The Band | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Pick Up Sticks was formed in 2007 in Boulder, Colorado by a group
of like-minded musicians out of a passion to spread the joy of Zimbawean music.
"Sticks" seeks to preserve this most ancient of traditions while also promoting the engagement and development of contemporary styles and audiences. We met as students at the Kutandara Center, a community-based music school whose goal is to give people of all ages the opportunity to experience joy through playing the music of Africa. In Zimbabwe music is often a whole-village affair--sharing the music is sharing the love. Pick Up Sticks welcomes you to our village. We are:
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| About The Music | ||||||||||||||||||||
| The Shona peoples inhabit sub-Saharan Africa (primarily Zimbabwe but also Botswana and South Africa). Their unbroken music tradition is one of the oldest on earth, going back well over 2000 years. It features complex multiple rhythms and interlocking melodies; many songs have a call-and-response structure and variations sections. Listeners will recognize these as the roots of jazz, gospel and Motown. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| About The Instruments | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The foundational instruments of Shona music are the mbira (24-28 key thumb piano), hosho (gourd rattles),
a variety of drums, and hand-clapping, in addition to voice and feet. The mbira is played inside a gourd
resonator known as a deze. Playing the interlocking melodies of the mbira is considered a form
of "praying with hands."
In the mid-20th century the Zimbabwean marimba was added, a variation of the ancient balafon (all in the xylophone family). Our full marimba orchestra is voiced like a choir, with soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass instruments. The marimbas are about five feet long and stand waist-high, except for the giant bass marimba---which is over five feet TALL and needs to be played from a riser. |