Mark Holdaway

Don’t take my word – listen, watch, and learn Phia and her Celeste Alto Kalimba “Phia” is Sophia Exiner from Melbourne, Australia, and she is really skilled at singing, songwriting, playing the kalimba, and live looping. (Looping is electronically repeating a short section of music, permitting a musician to accompany themselves.) Her kalimba of choice is a Hugh Tracey Celeste Alto. Unlike the standard Alto kalimba, which is mounted on a resonating box, the Celeste Alto is mounted on a flat board and has a flatter EQ curve and no natural “wah,” but it has the same notes as the standard Alto. Anyway, I am quite taken with Phia’s music. I

It is wonderful to see someone who really understands this challenging instrument! Get a Chromatic Treble Kalimba Limba Trip is the stage name and YouTube channel for Yohei Kisanuki, an eclectic and amazing player of electric bass and Chromatic Treble Kalimba in Kyoto, Japan. While a number of people have developed competence on the chromatic kalimba, Limba Trip is the most accomplished and most natural player of the Chromatic kalimba that I have seen. Yohei has approached the Chromatic kalimba as a fully chromatic instrument, capable of playing in any and all keys. As opposed to chromatic instruments, a diatonic kalimba is very forgiving and lets you make nice music even

The 17-Note Kalimba in C is exactly the same as the front of the Treble Chromatic Get a Chromatic Treble Kalimba One of the beautiful things about a typical kalimba is that it only has the “right notes.” Most kalimbas spell out a particular scale, and every note is a good note for expressing a certain range of music. The downside of that typical kalimba is that it cannot play music that requires chromatic notes (sharps and flats) outside of its particular key or scale. Enter the chromatic kalimba with its many tines and wide capabilities. In order to maintain the general simplicity of playing most kalimbas, the “naturals” are

These are made by Louise Sloman-Fuller, now retired from AMI (African Musical Instruments) in South Africa Click to go to Kalimba Accessories – scroll down to see the bag options   There are now several options out there for kalimba bags and kalimba cases. If you are looking for something really special, check out these quilted bags from Louise Fuller-Sloman. They are charming. I own two of them myself, and I am guessing there are a few of them that you would love too.     At Kalimba Magic we have around two dozen beautiful, handcrafted, padded and quilted kalimba bags in a variety of colors and sizes. I find

This is one magical tuning Click to download the 4-page tablature PDF The Hokema B11 Kalimba – also called the “Melody Kalimba” – has a lot of untapped potential. In its standard G major tuning, it does a lot of nice music. But so many other exotic tunings are also possible, and those exotic tunings have not really been explored at all – until now. Today we are taking another look at the exotic B11 tuning that I call “The Wizard.” Last summer when I created an instructional download for the B11 Wizard tuning, I did things in the wrong order. After the download came out, I wrote an enchanting

Classical – African – Americana – Spirituals – And more! Click to Purchase the new “33 Intermediate Songs” Download Learn to play kalimba like a pro, by learning from a pro – that’s me, Mark Holdaway! If you have been working your way through the “44 Beginner Songs” download, then “33 Intermediate Songs” is the next purchase to continue your progress. This 82-page single PDF download contains the kalimba tablature for all of the songs, and live links to enable you to download the sound recordings I have made to demonstrate each song. Says one recent happy customer: “I am very impressed with the quality of the ebook I just

The kalimba shapes their compositions. They shape the kalimba’s sound in their recording process. Anna Donahoo and Bob Guido are ABNA BON Anna Donahoo and Bob Guido are ABNA BON. This husband-wife duo produces cool ambient music for various soundtrack projects, and their music includes live drums, guitar, bass, keyboard, violins, voice… and of course, kalimba. They have an ethereal sound all their own. Part of that sound comes from their philosophy, part of the sound comes from their recording techniques, and part just comes from the inherent nature of the kalimba. “With the kalimba, melody and rhythm are kind of the same. You can’t think of melody on the

I learned so much from dealing with a recently broken thumb nail Click to go to Alaska Pik product page Don’t you hate it when people write about an experience as if they have had it, when they haven’t? OK, that was me last month, but I got religion in recent weeks. Last month I wrote a blog post on how to fine tune your Alaska Piks to your thumb. This month I broke a thumb nail, but I was obliged to play kalimba anyway… Let’s just say I now have a whole lot more useful information on using Alaska Piks with the kalimba. And lots of illustrations! So, if you

This technique can get you a lower bass note to better support the music Making a chord is simple on a diatonic kalimba: Pick the note you want the chord to be based on – let’s say C – and then play that note and the next two shorter tines on the same side of the kalimba. Those three tines will make a triad with the notes 1 – 3 – 5. Will it be major or minor, or even diminished? It depends on which key you are in and what note you started on – but it will always be a beautiful chord. (“Diatonic” means your kalimba plays only