August 21, 2010

Volume 5, Number 6

Kalimba Magic NEWS

• In This Issue
• Message from Mark: Tunings Are Palettes of Color
• What's the Buzz at Kalimba Magic?
• Interview with Steve Catania of Catania Kalimbas
• Kalimba of the Month: Catania Electric Pentatonic
• Also New from Catania: The 6-Note Pentatonic
• Nowhere Man: Tablature
• The Gods Must Be Crazy: Tablature
• Turn Your Alto into a Maurice White Pentatonic
• Tunings of the Sansula, Part 2: Morocco E
• 15 Original "2B" 9-Note Tunings Available
• Kalani Drum Circle = Community, Wellness & Joy
• Kalimba Community

Kalimba of the Month
The Catania Electric 11-Note Pentatonic Kalimba

The Catania Electric 11-Note Pentatonic Kalimba

Steve and Tami Catania have been making musical instruments for over 20 years, and their love for instruments shows in the work they do. Their good quality, low price kalimbas are a great value, and many people have started out on the Catania 8-Note or 12-Note kalimbas.

But I believe all the other kalimbas at Catania Folk Instruments are about to be eclipsed by the brand new Electric 11-Note Pentatonic Kalimba. It looks cool. It feels great. And it sounds awesome! Of course, it plays wonderfully in acoustic mode, but when you plug it into a guitar amplifier or an effects processor, a headphone amplifier, or a PA system, look out for some truly mind-blowing sounds! And the pentatonic scale makes this just plain fun to jam on. Go ahead and click on the video below, I'm sure you'll love it. By the way, the volume is way down for the first 12 seconds so you can get the full impact of the difference between acoustic and electric.

This one comes tuned to the G minor pentatonic scale. I will note that our book Playing the Pentatonic Kalimba has half of its pages devoted to the G minor tuning. We can also retune to G major pentatonic, A minor pentatonic, or A major pentatonic - or if you have a Native American Flute and would like one of these kalimbas to go with it, let us know your key and we'll figure out the best way to tune the kalimba to work with your flute.

The Catania Electric 11-Note Pentatonic Kalimba is available now at the Kalimba Magic Shop at a special introductory price of $99. I got an advanced Catania Electric kalimba a month ago to play around with, photograph, etc., and I promised it to my friend Glen Davis, who just loves it. Now that the full order of the Catania kalimbas have finally arrived, I'll be able to give this one to Glen.

You may also be interested in Catania 6-Note Pentatonic Kalimba, also new from Catania Folk Instruments. The 6-Note is great for kids.