December 9, 2008
Kalimba Magic NEWS
What's New at Kalimba Magic
Free Domestic Shipping and Half Price International Shipping until Dec. 20
Free Domestic Shipping & Shipping to Canada until Dec. 20
Use the coupon code Christmas1 between now
and December 20 to get free domestic shipping (includes shipping to Canada) on your
order from the Kalimba Magic Shop. That's free shipping for a book,
a CD, a kalimba, or a whole carton of kalimbas.
(Actually, if you are going to get more than two kalimbas,
call me up and we'll figure out a deal for you.)
What's with the S-l-o-o-o-o-o-w First Class International Mail???!
Recently I have had several experiences with very slow mail
sent First Class International. 8 weeks to China? 5 weeks to
Italy? 4 weeks to Colombia? The good news is that all these
kalimbas DID finally arrive. The bad news is that people were
not happy, and they and I spent hours worrying about the
fate of the kalimbas. So...
New Policy for International Shipping--and Half Price until December 20th
From now on, all kalimba shipments outside the U.S. and Canada
will go via Priority Mail International, and will be charged
at $30 -- but just remind me of Half Price International
Shipping through December 20, and I'll charge only $15.
Priority Mail International is supposed to require a signature
and is insured, and will get there faster than First Class.
Note: Canadians will still get mail sent via First Class Mail International, at the same rate as the domestic U.S. shipping. Domestic U.S. shipping will be via U.S. Priority Mail.
Sweetheart Special! Alto and Treble Kalimba Together
Our two most popular kalimbas - one for big hands, the
other for smaller hands.
There is a special sweetness you get from playing kalimba with your sweetheart. A real deep intimacy. And now, to help you and your sweetie play kalimba together, I'm offering a smokin' hot deal for you and your partner. A Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba with pickup and a Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba with pickup, plus the instructional book of your choice (i.e., Treble Fundamentals, Alto Fundamentals, Duets, or Christmas Book) - a $225 value - for just $170.
This Sweetheart Special will be available through Valentine's Day, February 14, 2009.
New Music Available for Alto and
Bb Treble Kalimbas and for Karimba
Announcing new music collections downloadable from the Kalimba Magic Shop!
10 Traditional African Pieces for the Karimba
I have transcribed 10 traditional African karimba pieces onto KTabS,
and Zipped the KTabS files and PDF files of the tablature
together into a download, which is available for $10.
You can read more about this new
offering of old karimba music. Next month, I expect to
offer the same set of songs for Alto and Treble kalimbas in
addition to just karimba.
20 Advanced Christmas Carols for Alto and Bb Treble Kalimbas
Also, I have arranged 20 favorite public domain Christmas Carols
for the Bb Treble Kalimba. These are advanced arrangements -
if you have done some work in the Chrstmas Carols Book, this
would be a logical place to go.
The KTabS and PDF files for these 20 Carols is available for
download for $10. You can
read more about the
advanced Christmas Carols download. We hope to have
these arrangements fixed up for the Alto and Treble kalimbas
in a few days.
Mbira music coming in January
Here is something really cool to look for in January -
mbira music in KTabS! I have finally started working through
B. Michael Williams' mbira instructional book, which means that
I am putting all of the traditional mbira songs in his book
into KTabS. While this is exciting news, I think the real
kicker is that I will be able to also translate them onto
the Alto and Treble kalimbas - something people have been
calling for for quite some time - real African music for
the Alto and Treble kalimbas.
Royer Ribon Microphone for Kalimba
Tim Weed recently had me into his Banjambo Studios to record the kalimba with high quality Royer Ribbon mics. The Royer people have released a CD with lots of cool music on it, all recorded with Royer mics, and Tim's recording of my kalimba, as well as his own banjo recording, are both on the disk. Says Tim:
I just got off the phone with Royer and they are SO excited to have your music on their new Demo CD. It's unlike anything they've heard before (they reminded me that I told them such) and it provides a unique set of sounds to their pallette. Wow! Your tune is framed between some of the most legendary players and engineers ever! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention 35,000 CDs are going out in the first run!
Wow, Tim, thanks so much for recording my kalimbas with Royer ribon mics. And hey, world of kalimba players - next time you go into the studio, ask if they have Royer mics and give them a try. Or if you are looking for a high quality mic to record your kalimba in your home studio, check out this option.
It is an unexpected honor to have my kalimba music on the same CD as Calexico, Melissa Etheridge, Matchbox Twenty, Tim Weed, Mark Knopfler, and Tony Furtado.
Louise at AMI writes about the Uhadi
Says Louise: Did you know that the Uhadi is actually a woman's instrument? In the Transkei [South Africa] there are groups of women that play together and sing in the traditional overtone way - not many left these days. There are also stories of single women who have been 'found', by ethnomusicologists, playing down by the river or in isolated places - very few also - sort of the last of the line. Most school children these days do not even know what an Uhadi is. You happened to be at AMI the day that Madusini came in. She is famous for her promotion of the Uhadi and very respected by her people for it.
By the way, here is some YouTube video of Uhadi star Madosini.
Kalimba Magic is proud to offer the AMI Uhadi. Hey, if women can play the mbira, traditionally played by men, I guess it's okay for me to play the Uhadi, traditionally played by women.
Discover the world of kalimbas at http://www.kalimbamagic.com
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