Young Hugh Tracey is brought to Africa; he falls in love with its traditional music; his life’s work eventuates in the kalimba’s entering western consciousness. He was one of the first Europeans to fall in love with the African kalimba.
At a time when traditional African music was quickly disappearing and the African scales were being replaced by the Western scale, Hugh Tracey founded ILAM, an institution to preserve African music and to promote research into African music.
Some of Hugh Tracey’s first kalimbas were made of aluminum! After building over 100 prototype instruments, blending traditional African design elements, Hugh Tracey brought easy-to-play, western-tuned kalimbas to the world in 1954.
The kalimba might not have caught on had it not been in a Broadway music called Wait a Minim, had bluesman Taj Mahal not played it, and had Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire not wowed a nation with his electrified kalimba playing.
These are the Hugh Tracey patent models from the 1960s. With success comes competition and imitation. Kalimbas are made, not just in Africa, but in America, Germany, France, Pakistan, Slovakia, Japan, China, and everywhere between.
With its ancient roots and its seemingly infinite new age possibilities, the kalimba continues to amaze the world. The future of this simple, traditional African instrument is a bright one with ever more kalimba resources.
A Melody Using the Upper Octave of the C Scale A Box Lotus and a Regular Lotus Karimba This series of tips is about scales and how useful they are for the kalimba player. We used the opening melody of the Bach Minuet in G as an example of how scale segments are used in melodies. Now that we have had a look at the upper octave of the C Major scale, I take you back to the Minuet melody. (By the way, the tablature here is for a 17-Note Kalimba in C, but the concept and even the tablature is the same for many other types of kalimbas.)
The Upper Octave of the C Scale A Box Lotus and a Regular Lotus Karimba This series of tips is about scales and how useful they are for the kalimba player. Do the math. You have a 17-Note kalimba. There are 8 notes in one octave of a scale. For the C Major scale, which starts on the very lowest note on your kalimba, you will be able to get a higher octave version of that scale. And here it is now! (By the way, the tablature here is for a 17-Note Kalimba in C, but the concept and even the tablature is the same for many other types
The G Scale A Box Lotus and a Regular Lotus Karimba This series of tips is about scales and how useful they are for the kalimba player. The G major scale usually has an F# in it. However, if you play a G scale – 8 tonally consecutive notes – on a 17-Note Kalimba in C, you will have an F natural, or a flatted 7th in the otherwise major scale. In music theory terms, this is the G Mixolydian mode. To me, that flat 7th is the first step toward minorness, and it introduces a funky sort of feel. (By the way, the tablature here is for a
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