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The chords and phrase structure behind most mbira music Click to download Tablature for the mbira song Chaminuka Most “primitive” music is so-called “two-phrase” music – basically a call phrase and a response phrase, or a question and an answer.  This simple musical form exists across cultures, in nursery rhymes, and in basic karimba music. Sometime between 600 and 1000 years ago in the Zambezi Valley of southeastern Africa – let’s suppose during the peak of the “Great Zimbabwe” civilization – an incredible innovation occurred: that primal two-phrase tune pattern evolved into a “four-phrase” pattern.  This innovation was momentous. Doubling the length of the original two-phrase cycle had the effect

A close look at the inner workings of the mbira song “Taireva” reveals remarkable and quirky details Mbira music is elusive. You think you understand it, you reach to grasp it, but then it slips through your fingers. There are in truth many ways to understand mbira music – and you learn to strive to come to the place where you touch all of those understandings without holding any. In another blog post, I give away the tablature for the song “Taireva,” for both mbira and C Alto kalimba.   In this post I detail some of the more subtle aspects of traditional mbira music, using “Taireva” to help in the

New tablature for mbira dzavadzimu, plus tabs for Hugh Tracey Alto and B flat Treble Kalimbas Click to download tablature for the mbira song “Chaminuka” Chaminuka was a real person, a renowned Zimbabwean prophet who foretold the coming of white European colonialists.  After his death, he became a popular ancestral spirit to channel.  Mbira dzavadzimu were and still are used in these ceremonies. While researching Chaminuka for the Chiwoniso article, I learned that there are at least two totally different songs by this name: “Chaminuka” for the karimba by Chiwoniso, and an unrelated song for the mbira dzavadzimu.  The mbira “Chaminuka” is the classic pattern described by Andrew Tracey in

Free tablature for “Chaminuka,” for A-17 or F-15 instruments Click to download Tablature for the song Chuaminuka on F-15 Note Karimba We have featured the music of the late Chiwoniso before at Kalimba Magic.  Chiwoniso was a talented and charismatic singer and karimba player (which she simply called an mbira). She was also the daughter of Dumisani Maraire (Dumi), who is credited with bringing both the marimba band movement and the karimba to America, starting around 1968.  Dumi was educated about music at the Kwanangoma School of African Music in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe). Chiwoniso grew up traveling with her father and learning African music, between Zimbabwe and Washington

Yohei Kisanuki plays some of the best Chromatic Kalimba in the world! When Kalimba Magic gets an order for an instrument and we ship it out, we have no idea if this kalimba will sit in its box unused for years, or if it will become the recipient’s new best friend, accompanying him or her on daily journeys and sharing beautiful music for years.  I hope the latter, of course.  It is always nice to see when someone does really well with their kalimbas. I recently learned of the great kalimba artist Yohei Kisanuki through YouTube.  I was particularly impressed by his ease in playing the Treble Chromatic kalimba, and thought

I was with someone while they had a panic attack – fortunately I had my kalimba I was visiting with a friend the other day when, out of the blue, she started to have a panic attack. I had something like a panic attack once – it was not a very enjoyable experience.  It seemed like the pressure of the entire world was pressing down on my heart and chest. I have never been with someone else who was experiencing a panic attack, and I don’t know much about them. While I immediately recognized that something was wrong, I didn’t really have a clue.  Her breath became shallow and rapid,

NOSTALGIC, SENSUAL, MYSTERIOUS, SWEET…. THIS KALIMBA PLAYS TRULY UNIQUE MUSIC. THE IMPROVED AND ENHANCED DOWNLOAD IS AVAILABLE NOW. IF YOU HAVE IT ALREADY, UPGRADE IT FOR FREE! Get the Freygish Download   “The Freygish-tuned karimba plays delightful songs, mostly in C harmonic minor.  This instrument brings alive baroque melodies and harmonies, romantic music box waltzes, fiery Middle-Eastern music, and hot Latino cumbia – nostalgic, sensual, mysterious and sweet.  This karimba plays unique music that is not played by any other.” (From the back cover of the Freygish karimba download.) The instrument that you can hear right now, which is playing in the video below, is the Freygish karimba, and the

Playing Karimba for Ayahuasca Ceremonies – PART 1 Learning to play the karimba and facilitating Ceremonies for the local Ayahuasca Church accompanied each other into my life. The karimba brightened my days during a particularly explicit flare-up of an old state of auto-immunity (see the blog post “Thumbing the Karimba at Chronic Pain”). The beads rattled like yapping puppy teeth, wanting to cuddle, and I was delighted. We made noise together. It was a good, wholesome, and healthy noise. In contrast, the Ayahuasca Ceremonies held by the Church lasted all night, ended at dawn, and were conducted in silence. Under the influence of medicine that expands your senses like so