The Situation at Kalimba Magic

Hi kalimba friends!

So it looks like I get to retire. I have found some folks to purchase Kalimba Magic. This means you will still be able to get these cool little instruments that I stock, on into the future. And perhaps more importantly, the instructional downloads we offer will continue to work. (If you don’t have one of our downloads, they are PDF files with live links to the sound recordings. So you get to see the tablature, showing you which tines to play to accomplish a song, and you get to hear me play the song too!) And in recent years, my hard copy kalimba books have transitioned from containing CDs of the songs, to having QR codes that take you to a page on the internet that gives you access to the sound recordings. All of this will continue to work on into the future.

I would introduce you to the buyers, but we have not exchanged earnest money yet. I look forward to introducing them to you!

Still Excess Kalimbas

I am still trying to even out my inventory. There are a few kalimbas that I have excess stock of, and I am still trying to sell them down:

Star-13 Kalimba

Olive-9 Kalimba

Hugh Tracey Alto Chromatic Kalimba

My strategy for selling these kalimbas is to create compelling content that instructs you on how to get the most out of your kalimba. We just finished a download for Star-13 in Exotic Tunings. We will have a similar effort soon for the Olive-9 Kalimba, showing new tunings for that one.

Shortage of Other Kalimbas

There are other kalimbas that I am very low on. (Remember, I was attempting to sell everything off.) I have put some of these kalimbas as “Out of Stock” even though I have a few, as I am saving that inventory for the people who will be running Kalimba Magic in a few months. Of course, they will also have to order new stock as well.

Hugh Tracey Kalimbas

Perhaps more important than my own situation is the situation of AMI (African Musical Instruments) in South Africa. While they continue to build marimbas which are mainly sold in Africa, they have ceased production of the Hugh Tracey Kalimba. The Hugh Tracey Kalimba has been around since 1954 – and it has made it 70 years, but the current climate of international kalimba competition seems to be more than AMI can take at this point.

This means that Hugh Tracey Kalimbas are a finite resource. Whatever I have will eventually sell and cannot be replaced. Hence, I am dropping my big sales and discounts on Hugh Tracey Kalimbas. Sorry about that. But now, I can say “Get them while you can”, because there will probably come a time when you cannot get them.

Indeed this is a sad situation. I started Kalimba Magic in 2005 when Christian Carver, director of AMI, approached me and asked if I could help sell the Hugh Tracey Kalimbas. You know I jumped at the chance, and entered into a 19 year old journey that has resulted in my creating over 100 kalimba instructional books and downloads. I did well at helping AMI keep going, and I became their biggest customer. But last year when I failed to make an order of Hugh Tracey Kalimbas, AMI decided to shut down production of kalimbas and focus on marimbas.

I do own a good number of personal Hugh Tracey Kalimbas, and I will not be letting go of them. Most of the instruments I perform on are Hugh Tracey Kalimbas, and I love them dearly.

On another note: I have a supply (almost 19 years worth) of damaged Hugh Tracey Kalimbas. Over the coming months, I will be repairing and refurbishing them, with hopes that they will still be played, loved, and enjoyed. More on that next month!

Thanks to my friend Jay Rochlin for sharing his kalimba art. You can find him on FaceBook.