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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Patriotic and American Music for Kalimba

 The Battle Hymn of the Republic, on 17/C Kalimba As a retired kalimba master, I have been doing a lot of music performances at elder care facilities. While I can get through a one hour performance with 15-20 songs, I need to have a lot more than that up my sleeve: not everyone I play for has a bad memory! If I play the same songs each week, some of the residents will catch on, and I might lose my dream job of playing for people and bringing them joy. One simple way to keep a diverse song list is to pay attention to the calendar. For example, you

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Kalimba Music for Hospice Patients… and Free Tabs for “This Is My Song, Oh God of All the Nations”,

“This is My Song, Oh God of All the Nations” Playing kalimba helps me through the good times and the hard times in my life. In May, when I traveled to Longmont Colorado to facilitate my father’s memorial service, I saw on Facebook that a long time friend, LS, was in hospice… also in Longmont. I had known LS for over 30 years, but I had not seen him since 2019. I reached out to his wife to ask if I could come and see him and play music for him. There was a 36 hour delay in the communication (Facebook messenger), but my friend was still alive when I

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Save Big on Hugh Tracey Karimbas for the Month of June 2025

African Tuned Karimba, a traditional African note layout. Use the coupon code KARIMBA35 to save 35% on the Hugh Tracey African Tuned Karimba or the Hugh Tracey African Tuned Karimba + PU, now through June 30 2025. Kalimba or Karimba? You might want to read here for the full story on the different names of this uniquely African instrument. Generally, if it has two rows of tines, an upper row and a lower row, it is called a Karimba. But this is not a universal rule. The Sansula and the B11 Kalimba have two rows of tines, but they are not rooted in the traditional African karimba… so I don’t

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Hey, there are two more Hugh Tracey box pentatonic kalimbas in stock. If you are fast.

My personal kalimba collection is a bit excessive. I have five different Hugh Tracey box pentatonic kalimbas, all in different tunings. Why? Because they are fun, easy-to-play instruments. I love to play them myself, and I love to put them in other people’s hands and watching them cut loose as I play guitar to back them up. But “Kalimba Magic the Business” (as opposed to “me and my personal collection”) still has two more Hugh Tracey box pentatonic kalimbas. We sold out of the box pentatonics with Pickup many months ago, sorry. And as African Musical Instruments (AMI) no longer makes kalimbas, these two will be among the last Hugh

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Kalimba Magic and Music Therapy

On April 4-6 2025, I went back to a regional Music Therapy Conference to pitch the kalimba to Music Therapists, and I had a great time. You can get the 34 page PDF download for the two hour presentation here. Before I get into it, be aware that Music Therapists are not just musicians who want to make a bit of money playing nice music for sick people. You might call that person a “therapeutic musician”, which is not any sort of official designation. Rather, Music Therapists receive extensive training, including a college degree, a 6 month internship with other practicing music therapists, and they need to pass a certification

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Back in Stock! The Bamboo-17 Kalimba

For the last 6 years, the most popular kalimbas in the world have been the Chinese-made 17-Note kalimbas. 10 years ago, I would have said the Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba was the most popular. Unfortunately, they are not being made anymore, but we still have a few Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimbas that you can get your hands on. But back to the 17-Note: the 17-Note Kalimbas are modeled on the Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimbas, which were the original kalimbas first made in South Africa in the 1950s. The tuning is easy and intuitive, with middle C, the root note, residing right in the middle on the lowest note. So, what

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

New! 10-Note Spiral Kalimba With Tines Stamped With Note Names and Numbers

Are you a “numbers-based learner”? First of all, you may want to get our EZ Numbers Kalimba EBook! But then you might also be interested in getting this 10-Note Spiral Kalimba with stamped tines. Why do I call it the “Spiral Kalimba”? Because of the spiral-shaped wood burn design that my wife Su and I designed. (You can see more artwork by Su at “SuLuWashArt“.) If held at one angle, you can barely see the note names and numbers stamped into the tines. But if you change the angle or the illumination, you will clearly see the “C” and “1” on the central tines. You might think this is a

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Alternative Tunings for the 10-Note Kalimba

The Kalimba Magic 10-Note Kalimba comes in several alternative tunings. Why would you want an alternative tuning? Because different tunings offer different musical possibilities. By retuning just one tine, you can actually put your kalimba into a different key that can play many more songs! Or you can change the tuning such that the kalimba sounds like a strange and exotic magical instrument. And Kalimba Magic is one of the only vendors who will offer you alternative tunings. Or, you could do the retuning yourself. What 10-Note Tunings Do We Offer? C Major standard tuning   You can find all of the resources available for this tuning on the Learn

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

8-Note Spiral Kalimba Turned into a Student Karimba

What Exactly is This Kalimba? The 10-Note Spiral box kalimba has super sweet tines that are wider than typical kalimba tines, and have a nice feel to place.  The 10-Note Spiral Box kalimba may be retuned to an 8-Note Student Karimba in C. If you would like the kalimba with unstamped tines, that is an option too. However, as this traditional African tuning is a bit out of the ordinary, you may want to get yours with the note names and numbers stamped on the tines. An Ancient African Heritage When Portugese priest Father Dos Santos encountered the kalimba in southern Africa in 1586, it very well could have been

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