Christmas Kalimba Medley Revisited After 22 Years

It was back in 2002 when I shocked everyone in the Tucson music scene by showing the true extent of the magic that is possible when you play the kalimba with great skill and great emotion.

(Here is a more recent version of the Christmas Kalimba Medley, played on a Kalimba Magic 17-Note Bamboo kalimba.)

Back in 2002, I performed 12 favorite Christmas Carols in 12 minutes. The waves of beauty and joy kept coming, overwhelming everyone’s expectations of what the kalimba could do. The music kept climbing in intensity, accelerating in tempo, until the final victory lap of “The Christmas Song” rang true with its unsung words: “Although it’s been said, many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you!” Ha! Never before had it been said like this, through the voice of the tiny kalimba, a perfect symbol of the vulnerable Christ infant.

History of the Christmas Kalimba Medley

It was fall of 2002. We were all still raw from the events of 2001. But we were recovering. I had landed a 12 minute spot performing for a Tucson music organization’s Holiday Party, and I really wanted to give a gift to everyone, a gift of the heart, a gift of beauty and joy and encouragement. And I decided I would learn arrangements of several Christmas Carols. Which ones? I walked away from my desk as a radio astronomer and took my lunch in a small park, my Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba, notebook,  and sandwich in hand.

I knew I wanted to start with  “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” to set the mood of serious contemplation and beauty. So I played it as I sat in the park. And when I was done, without stopping, I started into the intro of “O Holy Night”. And so it went. Without any hesitation, the songs came to me, as if a gift from the divine. It was as if a rope hung down from heaven, and all I had to do was keep pulling, and the music would come, again, and again.  I paused between each song just enough to write down the songs’ names in my notebook.

Over the next two months, I worked out the detailed arrangements and the transitions between the songs. It turned out the walk from the bus stop to my work office was exactly 12 minutes, and I would play the entire arrangement twice a day as well.

(Typically in performances, I begin with Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”, which I leave off of this rendition. Why? Because it is not usually considered a Christmas song, and I wanted to draw people in right away with “O Holy Night”.)

By the way, the original performances of the Kalimba Christmas medley in 2002 were on the Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba. After 2006, I started playing the medley on the Bb Treble Kalimba. And in this performance, I am on the 17-Note Kalimba in C. I’ve performed the medley every year since 2002, and it became part of the kalimba excitement that lead to the Kalimba Magic business and brand.

The Meaning of the Christmas Kalimba Medley

To me, the this Christmas Kalimba Medley tells the Christmas story in a different way. The first several songs, “O Holy Night”, “God Rest”, “Good King Wenceslas”, and “Emanuel”, set the stage of a serious event to be contemplated.
Then, with a cadenzic pause, comes the birth of Jesus in “Away in a Manger”. Witnesses to the birth come in “Bring a Torch” and “We Three Kings”, and then the triumphant glorification in “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Angels We Have Heard on High”, climaxing in “Joy to the World”. Then, I put the brakes on for the finale, with the “Chestnuts roasting” and “Merry Christmas to you” lines from “The Christmas Song”, and tagged with a final phrase of “Silent Night”.

You Can Learn These Arrangements Yourself!

By the way, years ago I notated these carol arrangements in the “Advanced Christmas Carols” books. That means, if you love these arrangements, and your mind is blown by their beauty and complexity, YOU can also to learn to play these arrangements to amaze yourself and share with your friends and family.

We have advanced books for “17-Note Kalimba in C”, the Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba, and the Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba.

There is also a download for the Advanced Christmas Carols on the Bb Treble Kalimba.