New Products from Kalimba Magic

African American Spirituals for the Alto Kalimba

Writing this 60 page book containing 21 African American spirituals arranged for the Hugh Tracey Alto kalimba has been a great labor of love. As a white man, I have been, for the most part, pretty insulated from the agony of racial discrimination that still exists in the U.S. and world today. But as I have proceeded through the work of arranging the spirituals included in this book, I could not help but imagine what it was like to be a slave in 18th or 19th century America.

That African Americans could respond to the horror of slavery with the beauty, grace, and hope embodied in these spirituals is nothing short of miraculous. So I like to think of this kalimba spirituals book as, in a small way, reciprocating the magnificent gift that those early suffering African Americans gave to the world in the spiritual, by bringing this music back home to the African kalimba.

I invite you to listen to the advanced Down By the Riverside from the CD that accompanies the book. Every song in the book comes in both advanced arrangements and basic arrangements

The book African American Spirituals for the Alto Kalimba with CD is available for $20.

The Monday - Mind/Body/Spirit tips over the next 5 weeks will be studying the song Wade in the Water from the Spirituals book.

Classical Alto and Treble Books

As promised, we now have the 40 page Classical Alto Book and Classical Treble Book available for $16. These do not come with CDs, but you can download the KTabS files for $5 as well as the free KTabS player from the KTabS website.

This is a great collection to learn from, as the early tunes have very simple melody-only arrangements, while the final tunes are quite advanced.

Amadindas in G Pentatonic - Great for Playing with Kalimbas

The amadinda is a traditional African xylophone played by two players striking the ends of the bars. You may want to read an interesting story about how these instruments are played.

We now have amadindas in G Pentatonic Western tuning. The Hugh Tracey Alto, Treble, and Pentatonic kalimbas come in a standard tuning to the key of G, and the African karimbas can also be retuned to G - so the G Pentatonic Western tuning on this amadinda is perfect for playing with the kalimbas.

One thing to consider - the amadindas are louder than the kalimbas, so some compensation must be used. Playing the kalimbas with a pickup, or playing the kalimbas with a deze gourd resonator, or playing five or six kalimbas along with the Amadinda, or even wrapping the amadinda with cloth are all workable examples of how the xylophone and the kalimbas could work together.

Deze Resonator Gourds from South Africa

The deze is a traditional African amplifier and resonator which an mbira is placed inside so it can be heard over the shakers. Deze are made for the celeste size of Hugh Tracey kalimbas or karimbas.

Here are three more photos that will give you a better glimpse of the dezes:

• Front view of dezes (back center deze is sold).
• Front view of dezes upside down (back center deze is sold).
• Back view of dezes upside down (front center deze is sold).

Contact me if you are interested in one of these dezes.

Four More Premium Kalimbas Available!

We now have four more Premium Hugh Tracey kalimbas for sale: a treble with pickup, a celeste treble without pickup, an Alto without pickup, and a rare box karimba.

We sold the last three Premium Hugh Tracey Kalimbas for $200 or $220, approximately twice the price of regular kalimbas, in just a few days. I have just sent $630 (i.e., $640, minus $40 for processing, and plus $30 from a generous donor who just sent some money) to AMI to use in their Employee Assistance Program. The funds will help pay for health care and school fees for the immediate families of AMI employees. I myself have donated the cost of the kalimbas, and three proud kalimba owners have donated the money.

This feels so right to me - that the best and most beautiful kalimbas are funding an initiative that will help the very people who built these kalimbas. We plan on doing at least $600 a month for the first year of activities, and we'll ramp up with time, as there is more need in Africa than we can imagine. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped!

Oddball Kalimbas You Can Get for a Song

I've got a few stray kalimbas that I am trying to send to a good home. There is nothing wrong with these kalimbas, but I have only a few of each and I don't want to inventory enough to sell them in the Kalimba Magic Shop. SO to clear away these stray kalimbas, I am offering some very good deals.

Bb Celeste Treble with pickup: I've been touting the wonder and beauty of the Bb Trebles mounted on boxes for a while. In fact, my personal favorite kalimba which I use for more than half of the songs I perform is a Bb Treble. This one is a Celeste Bb Treble, i.e., mounted on a board vs. box. The more portable and durable board kalimba is quite excellent for younger folk—or anyone with smaller hands.

If you would like this Bb Celeste Treble, it is yours for $96. Contact me if you want this one.

Celeste Chromatic w/o pickup: I also have 3 Celeste Chromatics without pickups. All our Chromatic kalimbas are on sale for the month of August 2009 (get more info on the Kalimba of the Month page), but I am dropping the price on the Celeste Chromatics w/o pickups even more - to a base price of $80. For any of the Chromatics, you can choose between 2 tuning options: C Eaton setup (add $5 to price) or G Eaton setup (add $10 to price).

If you would like a Celeste Chromatic kalimba, contact me.

Kalimbas Featuring Wood Burn Art

We currently have in stock three Celeste Pentatonic kalimbas (one with pickup) which feature wood burn art depicting scenes from rural South African life.

I will lower the price of these kalimbas by $10 each month until they are gone! You can wait, but you might miss out if you wait too long.

If you are interested in owning one of these kalimbas, they are available at the Kalimba Magic Shop currently for $70 without pickup, $85 with pickup. This is significantly below the price of Celeste Pentatonic kalimbas.