Why is the name “thumb piano” misleading for the African mbira?

The term "thumb piano" is considered misleading because it oversimplifies the playing technique and the complex construction of the mbira. While the name suggests the instrument is played exclusively with the thumbs, performers actually use both their thumbs and forefingers to pluck the tuned metal or bamboo tongues, known as lamellae.12

Furthermore, the mbira is technically classified as a lamellaphone or a plucked idiophone, rather than a piano. Its design involves a series of tongues attached to a soundboard or resonator, often supplemented by buzzing metal cuffs or bottle caps to create a specific rattling tone colour. By reducing this sophisticated, culturally significant instrument to a "thumb piano," the label ignores the nuanced physical interaction required to play it and the diverse structural variations found across the African continent.12