Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Kalimba Magic's Toast to 2009

New Year's Eve. We look ahead with great hope to the possibilities which stretch out before us in the new year—2009. There are so many things in the world that we seem to have no control over. The one thing that you and I do control is our attitudes. I am not going to try to sell you any mumbo jumbo that we can fix the world just by believing, but I will tell you that when I imagine how something can be in my life, I subconsciously and actively work to make it be so.

I'll give you two examples.

Before I could play kalimba very well at all, I had a vision of what kalimba music could sound like - melody and harmony and chord and counterpoint. I was convinced that the kalimba could serve as a seat of deep emotion transmitted through the beauty of its music. I held this vision in my heart and mind for many years, and gradually over the years I came to be able to play exactly as I had imagined. It did take me years, but I got there—in fact, I'm still getting there!

The other example is Kalimba Magic itself. Three and a half years ago, Kalimba Magic was born in an instant. Christian Carver, the director of African Musical Instruments, the makers of the Hugh Tracey kalimbas, which I had been playing for 19 years, sought me out and asked my help in selling my favorite instrument in the whole world. In an instant, I saw that I could make a living by playing the kalimba, by teaching other people how to play the kalimba, by selling and sharing books and CDs and music clips and tablature and video... I clearly understood in that moment that I could blow on this burning ember and fan the flames to life, that I could make a career based on sharing the beauty of this music with anyone who was open to that sharing.

The world first responded with a lot of cynicism. One stranger said to me, "I bet you never make as much as a single quarter from that instrument." It is true—the world didn't respond as quickly as my vision had come to me! But now, three and a half years later, my vision is firmly rooted in reality, and it grows each day in new directions that I had never imagined—even in my initial empowering vision.

So, as we stand at the threshold of this new year together, I raise my glass to you who are envisioning your own beautiful music on the kalimba. For, the real magic in Kalimba Magic is that more and more of you are out there studying and mastering this wonderful instrument, and inspiring others in turn.

May we fan the flames of each other's dreams into reality!

—Mark Holdaway
December 31, 2008

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