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This is so easy – it takes about 30 seconds The Hugh Tracey Karimba and the SaReGaMa Karimbas have buzzers on the 9 lower tines While the sound of buzzers (or rattles) on a karimba is very distinctive, it is not for everyone. Also, the term “buzzers” (which create an intentional sound effect)  is very different from what we call the “buzz,” which is an unwanted and unpleasant sound that results from an improperly seated tine. We deal with fixing the “buzz” in another article. This article explores the role of karimba rattles in African music, looks at some of the different ways of making the rattles, and shows you

This simple trick will get your deluxe (goatskin) sansula sounding great again   Along with the Sansula’s beautiful sound and mind-blowing special effects – that is, the deep wah-wah tonal modulation you can get by lifting and lowering the resonant frame onto a flat surface – there are some drawbacks among the different types of Sansula. They can be a bit finicky but are definitely worth having and playing. Knowing how to keep them at their best is easy. The Standard Sansula (which Kalimba Magic no longer carries) sounds good but has the considerable flaw that, when the instrument is dropped from a height of 1 meter or more, its

Pickups are now available on nearly all Hokemas The kalimba has always been a cool instrument. Different. Ethnic. New Age. Ancient. And just plain fun. But throw in an electronic pickup, and you can take the kalimba to a whole new level of FUN. It is a cliche, but the Germans do build things very well – smooth, precise, shiny… and now great sounding pickups for Hokema’s beautiful kalimbas. Thank you, Peter Hokema! The B7 Electro Hokema Kalimba Elektro The B7 has the lowest notes Kalimba Magic sells. The sound file below is recorded with a low D (low E is usually the lowest note on it). The wide tines

The Very First Episode of “Schoolhouse Rock!” in 1973 Had an Alto Kalimba in it! From the opening of “Three is a Magic Number” Listening to NPR this week, I learned of the passing of Bob Dorough, the dude who wrote all of the songs in the TV segment Schoolhouse Rock!  OK, dear ones, if you are younger than, oh, 35, you might not have any clue about Schoolhouse Rock! If you are my age, you might thank Schoolhouse Rock! for your ability to count by fives, or to multiply by 11. Or for your eternal knowledge of how conjunctions function in the English language. I was born in 1962, and

A New Book, Reviewed here by Sara Edelman, is now Available at Kalimba Magic Click to Buy the Book “Making Lamellaphones”   How well do you know your kalimba?  Could you create one? Ever feel the yearning to make your own? Bart Hopkin, the guru of creative musical instrument sound, design and construction, has written and published a book dedicated to building kalimbas, both traditional and inventive.  For those not in the know, the term “lamellaphone” refers to any instrument that makes sounds by the vibrating of lamellae (plural of lamella) or plates, and includes kalimbas, mbiras and modern variants – in other words, any instrument that goes “boing” when

The Treble Chromatic is the one kalimba that can do it You can get a Chromatic Treble Kalimba and play “Imagine” yourself! Recently someone told me that playing John Lennon’s song “Imagine” on kalimba was a goal of theirs. When I worked through the song in my head – I realized there is only one kalimba sold by Kalimba Magic that can play “Imagine,” and it’s the Hugh Tracey Chromatic Treble Kalimba. There is an amazing Russian musician, Natalya Obukhova, who has a YouTube channel called LadyChugun. She plays killer electric guitar, accordion, and… chromatic kalimba. And this amazing musician, LadyChugun, has figured out a great arrangement on the chromatic, and makes it look easy

One of the great mbira players Klara Wojtkowska is an accomplished musician and has contributed an array of interesting articles to Kalimba Magic. She has recently been abroad studying mbira and living in Zimbabwe. “Forward Kwenda’s inspiration is deeply spiritual and in a way he sees his role as a musician who channels from a realm beyond our physical grasp. It has been said of Forward, ‘It is almost impossible to believe that one person, playing one time, could make so much music with two thumbs and one finger! Of course, Forward Kwenda, considered by many to be the greatest living mbira player today, says that his spirits play the

How to renew someone special with cascades of the sansula’s easy, melodious sonorities   My lover had had a hard day. On the phone she told me that she had worked for 10 hours as a caregiver and she had been home for about 30 minutes. She was very tired. Her cat was sick, and she was worried about that too. I went to see her and brought my sansula to play. It was precisely what was needed, with its soft and mysterious and gorgeous sounds that seem to almost make themselves.   (Already familiar with them, my sweetie had had one many years ago, bought in Germany where sansulas

Yes, but for most of us it takes some practice Two people on one kalimba According to general understanding, we can only really concentrate on one thing at a time. But I know that this isn’t actually true. There are two of you (at least!) inside your head – a left hemisphere and a right hemisphere. Most of the time these two sub-brains work together. But our two thumbs are quite capable of doing quite different things from one another.  Probably the most interesting music on kalimba happens when the two thumbs are working independently, but in a coordinated manner.   Before we get to the kalimba lesson on this