Kalimba Magic NEWS

Kalimba Magic Contest
WINNERS of the Mbira Cycle Contest

Congratulations, winners! Thank you for your excellent submissions! Each of you will receive $50 in Kalimba Magic store credit. —Mark

Chuck Kaplan, first place winner

1st Place:
Charles Kaplan

Charles Kaplan created techno music based on the system of the mbira. He goes backwards through the chords in the mbira cycle! Very cool and unique.

Chuck submitted this MP3 of his techno music.

Chuck owns several kalimbas and sansulas, but they are not found on this recording. Most of his musical energy goes into playing mandolin and violin with the band Mandophilia, which plays jazzed up versions of klezmer and old time tunes. The techno keyboard-based music, which you hear in this winning contest entry, is another one of his creative avenues.

2nd Place:
Marius Gabriel Costea

I finally did it! I made a song for the mbira cycle contest. It was the hardest thing I ever did on the kalimba! Honestly it was easier to learn a song with tabs such as First look inside than to create a song on the mbira cycle. I had so many ideas and variations for songs based on the mbira cycle, it was hard to decide which one sounds better. So, in the end I decided to mix them all into only one song, challenging thing to do :), and I came up with this song. I really hope you like it.—Marius Gabriel Costea

Marius has an inexpensive kalimba given to him by his brother, and a kalimba he made for himself. He is saving his winnings in the Kalimba Magic contests to get a Hugh Tracey Chromatic Kalimba, and when he gets that, I'm sure he is going to tear up the field!

3rd Place:
Shawn Jackinsky

Shawn made this song around the mbira cycle, with his kalimba accompanied by musical saw. His playing and writing are very good. The saw is artfully played, but something about the sound of the saw is a little challenging for me.

I certainly hope that learning about the mbira cycle, the harmonic basis of ancient African mbira music, has been fruitful for you. I hope that the experience of walking the same path that the ancient African mind walked centuries ago has opened doors for you. It certainly opened doors for me! I invite you to read what happened to me when after I had been practicing the mbira cycle for six months. Stay tuned for more about what happened to me after I had been practicing two of Bach's two part inventions for six months.

We are going to take a little break from the contest idea. If you have an idea for a future contest, by all means, drop us a line - you might have the idea that inspires us to bring the contest out of semi-retirement.