November 26, 2009

Volume 4, Number 9

Kalimba Magic NEWS

• In This Issue
• Message from Mark: On Loving a Kalimba
• What's the Buzz at Kalimba Magic?
• Advanced Christmas Carols for Alto and Treble
• Announcing Playing the Sansula
• AMTA Music Therapists Discover the Kalimba
• Interview with Olusegun Williams
• Contest: Make Your Own Kalimba
• Playing Harmonica with the Kalimba
• KTabS Notebook: Kushaura & Kutsinhira Parts
• Kalimba of the Month: The Hokema Sansula
• Kalimba Community
• Ask Mark: Two Most Common Sansula Questions

Playing Harmonica with the Kalimba
Example from Ice-9

The harmonica is a simple instrument that you can play with many instruments, including the kalimba! This month I share with you an example from a great local Tucson band.

Ice-9 is a band that has been bouncing around Tucson for about 25 years, and I've been playing with them for two or three years. Michael Tanzillo writes most of the songs, Slim Rost plays bass, and Richard M. plays harmonica. I usually sit in on guitar, but sometimes I play the kalimba.

Listen to Ice-9 playing Take My Hand

I recorded this at a rehearsal with my handy H4 field recorder. When you listen to this music, you will notice that we recorded Mike's voice and guitar in the background, and the harmonica and kalimba are up front in the "mix". For a lot of the song, the harmonica is playing nice stretched out notes, while the kalimba is sort of noodling around with walking notes.