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Well… he recognizes me by my kalimba playing A woman was walking her big black dog over to the fence where Gus is likely to greet neighbors and other dogs. I was playing kalimba on my morning walk as I approached. At first, Gus – a very friendly white dog with black spots – trotted over to great the neighbor dog, but then he cocked his head and raised an ear, as if he was being directed for a movie – and he ran the other way. At first I didn’t get it – but then we stopped near the front gate and rolled over on his back, waiting for

You have to run it in compatibility mode Do you ever wonder how I create kalimba tablature? Those detailed, elongated maps of the kalimba with note symbols dancing on the tines? I use the Windows program KTabS – the Kalimba Tablature Software. This program changed my life, my productivity, and how the rest of the world learns and creates new kalimba music too! KTabS is an old program, and for the last few years, the KTabS website indicated the program would not run on the most current Windows operating systems. But the big news today: I heard from the creators and owners of KTabS, Randy and Sharon Eaton, that KTabS

This one plays in four different scales, without retuning a single note Get yourself a B11 Kalimba today! I love to fall in love. Who doesn’t? Yes, it is a bit chaotic, and your plans might go out the window, but the blissful feeling of falling in love? Of discovering and sharing each’s inner secrets? That is why I devote myself to exploring new exotic tunings on the various kalimbas – because each new tuning is an opportunity to fall in love. I can’t really tell which kalimba or tuning I will fall in love with, but I know it when it happens. All of a sudden, I understand, and

This is a very sweet, reasonably-priced kalimba Get one of these economical kalimbas for yourself! The 17-Note Kalimba in C is a great introductory kalimba. In this post you’ll read about this new instrument and how it can be the door into the world of the modern kalimba. The heart-shaped sound hole of the 17-Note Kalimba in C (made in China for Kalimba Magic) represents my love for the kalimba (and I hope it will be the same for you!). Depending on how you look at it, the wood-etched shadow of the heart echoes the stylized forms of a dolphin and a bird, representing wild and free life. The wood-etched stars

This one plays just as nicely as it did in… oh, 1968? Yes, Virginia, old kalimbas can be made new again! In the 1960s, the Hugh Tracey Treble kalimba was “the thing.” It was new, it was fun, it sounded great. Hugh Tracey’s sons, Andrew and Paul, both learned to play and love the Treble kalimba. In fact, while Hugh was working on creating this hybrid instrument in Africa before anyone in the world was making commercial kalimbas, he sent Paul one of his first prototype kalimbas while Paul was at boarding school back in England. Hugh admonished Paul not to share this kalimba with anyone. It was top secret.

Great jamming and a whirlwind tour of Kalimba Magic headquarters Karl Von Packal is the host of Car Sessions with Karl, a Youtube phenomenon. Mark is invited by Karl to participate in some jamming in Karl’s vehicle, where Karl has done the same with a variety of other interesting musical monsters, including Mike Ankomeus, Mark’s band mate and employee. Mark also takes us on a quick tour of Kalimba Magic’s humble headquarters, and talks a bit about the kalimba’s story and culture (see the Black History month presentation in this newsletter for much more on this). We are treated with clips of the two musicians improvising some great music while

The 66 Songs Download has been replaced with user friendly 44-Beginners-Songs and 33-Intermediate-Songs Get the Easy-to-Use 44 Song Download The 44 songs in the download were taken from various Kalimba Magic collections and modified for use with the 17-Note “Treble” Kalimba in the key of C, which is sold under a great many brand names at this time – Donner, Walter, Heart-17, and Gecko, among others.  The collections that went into this download include: African American Spirituals, traditional African karimba tunes, classical pieces, folk and pop music, Americana and patriotic, and some children’s songs. These songs are rated by difficulty, with songs in each category between 1 and 5.  

This is one magical tuning Get yourself a B11 Kalimba today! 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 the exotic tunings have not really been explored at all – until now. Today we are looking at the exotic B11 tuning that I call “The Wizard.”  An exotic tuning can take a kalimba to a new and magical place, transforming the music it plays and the experience you have with it. At Kalimba Magic laboratories, we took all

The Fabric of a simple “Three against Two” pattern is strong enough to be the foundation of a song What does “John Huffington” have to do with the classic African three-against-two multi-rhythm? I don’t know a John Huffington, but here’s his name, embodied in this rhythmic riff when I play it on the Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba. When I fall into the groove of this pattern, I hear my kalimba saying  the name “John Huffington.” The three against two pattern requires that one thumb play one thing (three notes) in the same space as the other thumb is playing something else (two notes). And repeat. You can play this sort