Nov. 19, 2011 Vol. 6, Num. 5

Kalimba Magic NEWS In This Issue Message from Mark: Welcome to Jordan McGary Anniversary Sale! 50% Off Books and Downloads New Instruments and Smokin' Deals New Music and Learning Materials Christmas Performances & the New Baba Marimba AMI Box Marimbas and Bass Bars 8th Street Music Unearths Vintage 1968 Kalimba Catania 12-Note: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme The Chromatic Kalimba Featuring Beatles Music! Jenny Bienemann Releases CD Girl Friday Another Kalimba Doctor Success Story Mbira Cycle Contest Winners!! Ask Mark: Pickup Effects / Tuning an HT Knock-off Kalimba Community News

New Instruments and Smokin' Deals
Cases, Marimbas, Half Price Kalimbas & More!

AMI Workers Unite to Build Alto Kalimba Cases

After the AMI workshop stops making kalimbas in the afternoon, the power tools are still cutting and sanding wood. The AMI workers have started an initiative to make handsome kalimba cases for the Hugh Tracey Alto kalimbas. This means that the money you pay for these boxes will bypass management and go straight to the AMI workers. A huge thanks to AMI management for permitting workers to use the shop, materials and tools to build these form-fitting cases.

We have 60 boxes for Altos on the way from Africa, they should arrive later in November 2011, and will be available for $95. You can pre-order a case now for delivery when they arrive.

AMI also has a fancy machine that can be programed to make fancy engravings - it is mainly used to label the notes on the marimba bars. At left is a prototype for a fancy alto case. If the first wave of alto cases is a success, we'll be seeing these in the Kalimba Magic Shop pretty soon!

 

 

 

 

AMI Box Marimbas and Bass Bars

New from African Musical Instruments (AMI): box marimbas and bass bars! These convenient, transportable, economic, high quality marimbas should make a huge splash in the U.S. music market. It hasn't been easy being a marimba band with a couple of cargo vans to haul your instruments around - but as of now, all that is going to change.

Due to my low markup, I cannot accept any coupons or bulk discounts on these new AMI marimbas - sorry! Due to the extreme expense of shipping large heavy items overseas, I cannot ship these outside of the U.S. or Canada.

Read the full article on AMI Box Marimbas and Bass Bars.

Visit the Kalimba Magic Shop to purchase an AMI Box Soprano Marimba.

Visit the Kalimba Magic Shop to purchase an AMI Box Tenor Marimba.

Visit the Kalimba Magic Shop to purchase a set of nine AMI Bass Bars.

Michel's Blue Deze

Michel Hardbarger has been making percussion instruments from gourds for several years and, when she made these, she didn't realize they make perfect deze (gourd amplifiers) for the Hugh Tracey karimba and other celeste-sized kalimbas. Beautiful, reasonably robust, and great sounding!

 

Go to the Kalimba Magic Shop to purchase a Blue Deze.

New from Peter Hokema: the Papson

Kalimba Magic now carries the new Papson = "Papier Sond" - a little 5-note kalimba mounted on a handsome black cardboard amplifier. The cardboard amplifier significantly increases the sound. The kalimbas come from Germany tuned to an Fm chord, but we can tune these to any chord you want or need. For example, a set of three of these could be tuned to C, F, and G7 - or D, G, and A7 - or E, A, and B7 - to do I, IV, V songs. You could play them all as I show in the video above. Or you could pass the different chordal kalimbas out to different individuals and, just by taking turns, you get out an arpeggiated melody following a chord progression. Cool, eh?

You can purchase the new Papson at the Kalimba Magic Shop.

Bourne Micro M 8-Note Marimba

Kalimba Magic is now manufacturing the Bourne Micro M 8-Note Marimba. They are available at the Kalimba Magic Shop for $160. They are made as they are ordered - expect 2-6 weeks from order to delivery.

The Bourne G1.5 12-Note Marimba is also being made now by Kalimba Magic and is available for less money as we cut out the middle man. Wait a minute, I was the middle man! Ah, we cut out the manufacturer, and now the middle man is making them.

Why isn't Tom Bourne making these little marimbas any more? Because he is 12 months back-ordered with larger more lucrative marimbas, so he passed this work on to me.

Wanna Amadinda for Cheap?

Kalimba Magic is discontinuing the AMI Amadinda and has discounted the prices on these modern versions of the ancient Ugandan xylophone.

I have seven amadindas left, a few in the traditional equally-tempered pentatonic scales, a few in G western pentatonic scales, and one made of highly resonant sneezewood in the G western pentatonic tuning.

If you would like to learn more about the amadinda, please read this newsletter article on the amadinda and its music.

By the way, Canadian musician, Jurij Konje, who recently published a set of 10 songs for the karimba, has made a great solo recording of an original composition on the amadinda, "Outskirts".

Chromatic Kalimbas without Pickups for Cheap

By accident we have two Treble Chromatic kalimbas without pickups. We sell them with pickups for $160, but if you would like to get one without a pickup for $99, please contact us.

We also have one Alto Chromatic Kalimba without pickup. We sell them with pickups for $160, but if you would like to get one without a pickup for $99, please contact us.

Cracked Alto and Treble Kalimbas for Half Price

We have six kalimbas with cracked face wood. We could send these defective kalimbas back to Africa for a refund, but these kalimbas sound fine and play as well as any other Hugh Tracey kalimba. This is an especially appealing option if you work with kids who might drop the kalimba by accident or even hurl it across the room just for the heck of it. If the kalimba is already cracked, it doesn't bother you so much to see it flying towards a hard floor. If you would like a half price Alto or Treble kalimba, contact us.