February 12, 2021

Maurice White of the R&B/Funk/Pop band “Earth, Wind & Fire” came out of Chicago at the same time the AfroHarp was being made. He surely held an AfroHarp in his hands. But Maurice White was following the lead of  his kalimba mentor, Phil Cohran. Cohran had an African-made pentatonic-tuned kalimba. Unlike the AfroHarp or the karimba, Cohran’s kalimba had the tines all on the same level. That speaks to the diversity of traditional kalimbas in Africa. Maurice White couldn’t find a traditional African-made instrument like Cohran’s. Instead, he found the Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba, in a diatonic “Do Re Mi fa So La Ti Do” tuning. Maurice quickly retuned the

Look up Francis Bebey on YouTube. He made great, diverse, charismatic groove-based music in Cameroon in the 1970s. Many of his songs featured his kalimba playing. He also played guitar, and sang. But often, he led his band with kalimba and singing. To my ear, each of Francis Bebey’s kalimba songs used a different kalimba tuning. (He was the opposite of Maurice White, who seemed to use the same tuning on all of his songs.) My take on that: each of Francis Bebey’s kalimbas had a different tuning, and each played different music. Each of his kalimbas had a different song. One of my favorite Fancis Bebey songs is “Breaths”,

In the 1970s, Black Pride was a huge thing. And it should be now too. But I think most Black people have done their part. Now, it is the White people who need to appreciate and understand Black Pride, without fear and without offense. I for one understand that when I appreciate the beauty of African culture, I find it very hard to be racist or to put Black people down categorically. Kalimba culture is something that can lift up Black people, can lift up non-Black understanding and an appreciation of Black culture, and can certainly make the world a better place. The rich cultural diversity of Africa was torn