August 30, 2020

Hugh Tracey was an English ethnomusicologist who traveled widely in rural Africa in the first half of the 20th century. This man’s life’s work turned out to be the reason that kalimbas are known and loved by so many in the world today.

The kalimba has a rich and varied history in Africa that stretches back as much as 3000 years, but the metal tined kalimba is only about 1300 years old. The modern kalimba player can learn a lot from the strands of traditional African kalimba music.

Young Hugh Tracey is brought to Africa; he falls in love with its traditional music; his life’s work eventuates in the kalimba’s entering western consciousness. He was one of the first Europeans to fall in love with the African kalimba.

At a time when traditional African music was quickly disappearing and the African scales were being replaced by the Western scale, Hugh Tracey founded ILAM, an institution to preserve African music and to promote research into African music.

Some of Hugh Tracey’s first kalimbas were made of aluminum! After building over 100 prototype instruments, blending traditional African design elements, Hugh Tracey brought easy-to-play, western-tuned kalimbas to the world in 1954.

The kalimba might not have caught on had it not been in a Broadway music called Wait a Minim, had bluesman Taj Mahal not played it, and had Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire not wowed a nation with his electrified kalimba playing.

These are the Hugh Tracey patent models from the 1960s. With success comes competition and imitation.  Kalimbas are made, not just in Africa, but in America, Germany, France, Pakistan, Slovakia, Japan, China, and everywhere between.

With its ancient roots and its seemingly infinite new age possibilities, the kalimba continues to amaze the world. The future of this simple, traditional African instrument is a bright one with ever more kalimba resources.