News | Resonanting Mwenje puts timbila at the centre of new INET-md project on musical heritage

At INET-md we are happy to announce that last month, March 2025, Resonating Mwenje, a new project on musical heritage in Mozambique, was launched under the EMKP - The Endangered Material Knowledge Programme, with the support of the British Museum's Department on Africa, Oceania and the Americas and the Arcadia. The project Resonating Mwenje will be documenting the timbila making process and the techniques of the masters from Zavala, Mozambique, under the coordinated of Gianira Ferrara, INET-md researcher pursuing her PhD at NOVA FCSH with a thesis on the performative practices of timbila.

According to the goals of the EMKP, Resonating Mwenje is a collaborative project that aims to document in detail the process of constructing the mbila (pl. Timbila), a xylophone found in southern Mozambique, specifically in the district of Zavala, and built using materials from the local ecosystem. The mewnje, the tree from which the wood for the xylophone's bars is sourced, is an endangered botanical species, so the survival of the musical instrument itself is considered at risk. The timbila therefore allow us to observe a dynamic connection between cultural processes, performance and the environment. The construction of the timbila requires specific skills and today few makers possess this knowledge.

The team involved in the project will produce audiovisual documentation about the material culture and knowledge system surrounding the timbilia, including the performative practice called n'godo, with the invaluable collaboration of four master timbila makers and their groups.

The project was born in response to a request the team members have received throughout their work in Mozambique: to preserve the memory of the timbila tradition and, above all, to make the data and materials collected in the field accessible to its practicioners. This collection will then be deposited with some local institutions, easily accessible in the district of Zavala, Mozambique, and at the British Museum, and will be made availabe in open access.

Besides Gianira Ferrara, who already developed fieldwork in Mozambique for two years, the project team also includes the Brazilian anthropologist Sara Morais, PhD by the University of Brasilia, currently working with IPHAN - Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artísico Nacional, and also the Mozambican researcher Venâncio Mande Júnior, who holds degrees on Cultural Management (ISARC) and Ethnomusicology (MA, Rhodes University). Venâncio Mande Júnior is the son of Venâncio Mbande (1932-2015), one of the most wel-known timbila players in Mozambique and internationally. The timbila ensemble formed by his family is among the most active today.