Kalimba Magic NEWS

Kalimba Magic Contests
WINNERS! And a New Deadline (Again)

FINALLY, we received submissions to our What I Feel When I Play Kalimba Video contest - BUT we are still waiting for submissions to the Mbira Cycle contest.

Contest: What I Feel When I Play Kalimba Video

WINNERS!

To the three winners: you can redeem your prizes as Kalimba Magic store credit. I should say that only one of the three entries fits perfectly in the framework of the contest - "what I feel when I play kalimba" - but it is clear that the other submitters feel strongly about what they are doing with their kalimbas.

First Place: $90. Scott Holt has built a super kalimba made from kalimbas in different tunings. This is a unique direction to be taking the kalimba(s).

Second Place: $35. Nathan Lang displays the range of what his kalimba can do.

Third Place: $25. Marius Gabriel Costea of Romania has started making his own kalimbas, and I was moved by his skill and the simplicity and clarity of his music.

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Contest: Create Original Music Based on the Mbira Cycle

Deadline Postponed to May 1

New contest deadline: May 1, 2011
Submit your original music as a sound recording in MP3 or on a CD, as a KTabS file, as written tablature, or in a YouTube video.

The Mbira Cycle - go clockwise!

What is the Mbira Cycle? Andrew Tracey refers to it as the system of the mbira - a circular chord progression made up of 12 chords positions (some chords are repeated, so there are only six different chords that inhabit these 12 positions). When you get to the end, of course you go back, Jack, and do it again, wheel turning 'round and 'round. Hence, I call it a cycle. There are three different possible starting points. Andrew Tracey states that most mbira music is based on this music theoretical framework. Hence, it is a generative system - once you understand the mbira cycle, you can use it as a tool to create new songs, just as they have been doing in Zimbabwe for centuries. Fortunately for you, we are just finishing up a series of Tips of the Day, which explains the Mbira Cycle in great detail.

I've had some correspondence with a few folks about the Mbira Cycle Contest, and I thought it would be only fair to share with you the advice I have given to others:

• It dosn't matter what key you play in. I have written it out for G because that is the "native key" for the Hugh Tracey kalimbas. However, I have recorded bits in Bb and in F.
• It doesn't matter which voicings you use for the chords. The chord progression is always going UP by a 3rd or a 4th, so at some point you have to jump down an octave (or else you fall off the ends of the tines).
• The chords are not just single notes - G can be G1 + G2 (ie, an octave) or better: G1 + D1 + G2 (octave and 5th - a classical mbira chord), or G1 + D1 or G1 + B1 + D1 + G2 (ie thr full western triad with the octave of the root on top).
• Choose your chord voicings carefully. Look at the voicings you are using before and after. ALSO, you need not use all notes in a chord. You can arpeggiate the chords, playing one note at a time. If you play the root on one side, you can play the 5th on the opposite side a 4th lower than the root. AND feel free to insert other melody notes - passing notes - that are not in the chord.

You can listen to my first composition using the mbira cycle, starting at the usual starting point, the I chord.

You can listen to something I recorded a few days ago for this alternative progression that starts on Em (it is the same cycle, but just sounds different). I should note that the first quarter (Em G C) is repeated four times as an intro, and then the piece launches into the changes. ALSO, I am holding the 3rd chord of each quarter twice as long as the first and second chord. AND LAST, in addition to doing the chords, I am inserting other passing notes as melody notes. SO, while this is clearly based on the mbira cycle, I have taken some liberties with it, and you are also free to do that.

To enter this contest, send us a few sentences describing who you are, what your song is, and how you are going to enter (email, snail mail, etc.). As with the other contests, there will be up to 3 winners and the winning submissions will share $150 in Kalimba Magic store credit. (We'll decide if there are one, two, or three winners when we judge the submissions.)