November 26, 2009
Kalimba Magic NEWS
Kalimba of the Month
The Hokema Sansula
Bottom: Renaissance and Deluxe Sansulas
Actually, there are four different types of Sansulas: the Pocket Sansula, the Standard Sansula, the Renaissance Sansula made with a Remo head, and the Deluxe Sansula made with a goat skin head.
You can listen to the four different Sansulas here.
When you first pick up a Sansula, you are struck by what an awesome instrumen this ist! It really sings beautifully. It seems to have its own song. People who have never had much success with music can pick up the Sansula and immediately feel the joy of creating beautiful music. And people who have musical experience can take the Sansula that much further!
At Kalimba Magic, we have studied this simple 9-note musical instrument, and we have something of great value to contribute - a new multi-faceted book which takes several different approaches to teaching the Sansula. This book is fundamentally different from all our other books - it aims at equalling the beauty of the Sansula.
Anyone who purchases a Standard, Renaissance, or Deluxe Sansula will get a free Sansula book, at least through the end of November 2009. Anyone who purchases the less expensive Pocket Sansula can get a Sansula book for half price - but you'll have to call me or email me to take advantage of the Pocket Sansula deal.
So, what makes this Sansula book so special? Below I describe the seven sections of the book, each of which present a different approach to playing the Sansula. No matter where you are musically, there will be material in a few of those sections that is exactly right for you to learn from. In time, hopefully you will grow musically and you will be ready to dip into other approaches in the book.
- Introduction: We cover different playing techniques, a bit of the history of the Sansula, care of the Sansula and your thumbnails.
- Guided improvisations: These are like guided meditations - these will help you think of music as telling a story.
- Chords: We show you notes that sound great together, and how to form a bridge of communication to other instruments.
- Swimming with Chords: We provide backing tracks of chord progressions that you can play along with.
- Tablature: By studying various patterns in detail, the tablature provides new ways of looking at the Sansula.
- Alternate Tunings: If you get tired of the same beautiful Sansula tuning, these tunings will spice up your Sansula life.
- Other Sansula Resources: Includes examples of how to use the Sansula with other instruments.
What Makes the Sansula Special?
The Sansula is truly a new world instrument, which embraces the whole world. I have never met Peter Hokema, the creator of the Sansula, and it is possible that he never saw a traditional African Karimba, which makes his instrument even more amazing. I don't know if he has ever heard of the Ake Bono Japanese scale. But there are deep connections between Peter Hokema's Sansula and some of the great but disparate musical traditions around the world. So I will just connect the dots for you.
First of all, the Sansula is based on the African thumb piano, often known as the kalimba, though it has over 100 different names, most referring to specific traditional instruments with specific tunings and note layouts. Kalimba is a generic name, and Sanza is also one of the more generic names. Sansula is based on the root Sanza.
In my mind, the Sansula is based on a particular kind of traditional African thumb piano called the karimba, also known as the mbira nyunga nyunga. Many of the African karimba's notes lay between the western major and minor intervals, and if you shift the intervals on the karimba to the minor, you have a note layout that is more similar than dissimilar to the Sansula.
Andrew Tracey, the son of Hugh Tracey, makes an excellent case for the karimba being the prototypical tuning for all metal-tined thumb pianos of southern Africa. Gerhard Kubik, a German who studied thumb pianos in Africa, estimates that these metal-tined instruments were first made in Africa some 1300 years ago. To me, it is amazing that the Sansula is based on what is thought to be the most ancient of African thumb piano tunings and note layouts.
To compliment that ancient side of the instrument, the Sansula is made in Germany. While there are many countries about the world that have well engineered high tech products, there will always be something special about German engineering. When you hold the Sansula in your hands and feel its quality construction, when you feel how beautifully it sits with you, when you feel the smoothness of the tines, when you hear the perfection of the instrument's singing, when you feel and hear the long sustaining vibrations of this instrument—I think you will agree.
The Sansula is not tuned exactly like the ancient karimba. Rather, its scale is based on the ancient Japanese Ake Bono scale. This scale is used in the well known cherry blossom song Sakura, which you probably know even if you don't realize it. This scale has mystical reverence and mysterious peace, and it will color the music you create on it.
And here in the United States, there are several top notch players who are learning how to play the Sansula, inventing new tunings, and sharing their discoveries with the world. You can see what I mean about the Sansula being a new kind of world instrument, embodying aspects of Africa, Japan, Germany, and even the United States.
But it is also a very progressive New Age instrument. The special effects which you can produce totally acoustically on the Sansula are mind-blowing.
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