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Mark Holdaway

Andrew Tracey’s Memorial Service on YouTube

Andrew Tracy’s Memorial Service   That is Andrew Tracey when I met him in 2008, with a photo of his father Hugh Tracey (circa 1960) looking over his shoulder. These two men are giants in the kalimba world. Their work is related to the preservation and understanding of the African kalimba family of instruments, and the creation of new kalimba designs. Hugh Tracey spent decades traveling about southern Africa, recording, learning, and documenting the various traditional African instruments he encountered in the hinterlands. And of course, he made the world’s first kalimba business in 1954: African Musical Instruments (AMI). However, it was largely through the work of his sons, Andrew

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Andrew Tracey, Son of Hugh Tracey, Has Left This Earth. But He Left Us His Karimbas.

That is Andrew Tracey when I met him in 2008, with a photo of his father Hugh Tracey (circa 1960) looking over his shoulder. These two men are giants in the kalimba world. Their work is related to the preservation and understanding of the African kalimba family of instruments, and the creation of new kalimba designs. Hugh Tracey spent decades traveling about southern Africa, recording, learning, and documenting the various traditional African instruments he encountered in the hinterlands. And of course, he made the world’s first kalimba business in 1954: African Musical Instruments (AMI). However, it was largely through the work of his sons, Andrew and Paul Tracey, that the

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

The Story of the Karimba – and Why You Should Get One at 60% Savings

Right now, you can get the 17-Note Hugh Tracey African Tuned Karimba, the 17-Note Karimba + PU, or the 8-Note Goshen Box Student Karimba at 60% off.  Use coupon code Karimba60 now through Feb 3 2024 to get 60% off. The Tunings? It is called the African Tuned Karimba because its traditional tuning is in between major and minor – that is, many of the notes are in between western notes. It turns out that African tunings generally had near perfect octaves and near perfect fifths and fourths, but other intervals were up for grabs. And a big part of Hugh Tracey’s work was documenting those African scales. “Karimba” is

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Mark Holdaway

Save 55% on These Hugh Tracey Kalimbas w/o Pickup

Use the coupon code NoPickup55 to save 55% on Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba, the Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba, the Bb Treble Kalimba, the D Treble, the African Tuned Karimba, the F-15 Karimba, and the Box Karimba.  Code NoPickup55 is good through Jan 20 2024. What about the corresponding models with pickups? Well, I am running out of all of those, so it is business sense to try to sell off the ones without pickups, which I still have a fair many. (Underlying essage: if you need a Hugh Tracey Kalimba with a pickup, you may want to order it sooner rather than later.) This is part of our “Great Kalimba

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Mark Holdaway

Save 50% on Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimbas

Use the coupon code Treble50 to save 50% on the Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba and its offshoots. Code Treble50 is good through Jan 5 2024. (This sale does not apply to Celeste Treble, which are low in stock.) This is part of our “Great Kalimba Selloff of 23/24”. As they say, “Everything must go”. Eventually. Well, I will keep about 100 kalimbas in my personal collection, because I am just crazy like that. I anticipate playing a lot of kalimba in my retirement. I have so many recordings I am dreaming of. If you don’t have a Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba, consider getting one. They are really fine instruments, quite

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Save 50% on Sweet Goshen Box Kalimbas

Use the coupon code Goshen50 to save 50% on the 8-Note Goshen Box Kalimba or the 8-Note Goshen Box Student Karimba. Code Goshen50 is good through Dec 31 2023. Before you poo-poo this 8-Note Kalimba as “kid stuff”, check out the video below. These are incredibly sweet kalimbas. The wood is stained mahogany, routed with smooth edges. The two “vibrato holes” are on the side instead of the back, which feels so nice when you use them to flutter the tone. The Goshen 8-Note Box Kalimba is among my favorite  kalimbas to play. It is so smooth and pleasant. I am keeping 10 of them to give as gifts in

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Are YOU the Future Author of a Wikipedia Article About Kalimba Magic?

A Legacy Stolen? Here’s a story: in 2020, I discovered that some fraudster was publishing their own versions of my tablature-based kalimba books, and claiming that HE had invented Kalimba Tablature. (I invented graphical Kalimba Tablature in 2004.) This prompted me to publish my own kalimba books on Amazon. I got Amazon to take down most of the fraudster’s books, but there are still a few up. And there are many other people who write kalimba books, use my tablature, and do not credit me in any way. Which begs the question: whatever will happen to my legacy after Kalimba Magic is gone? A Wikipedia Article I could write a

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

My Retirement Plan: Traveling the Country Giving Kalimba Workshops!

We are starting a list of where in the USA we would like to travel in 2024 and beyond, to share the joys of music and kalimba. Would you like to be a stop along the way? Just to chat over coffee, or get a kalimba lesson? Or would you like to host a kalimba workshop, kalimba history presentation, or a house concert? If you would like to get on the bus with us (so to speak), please Contact Us. Tell us your name, city or town, phone number, email, and what sort of musical or kalimba adventure you have in mind. We are starting to think of trips to

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Save 50% on M17 Kalimbas, Any Tuning

Use the coupon code MMM50 to save 50% on the M17 Magadi Kalimba in any of its tunings. Code MMM50 is good through Dec 21 2023.Just to spell it out, in the standard tuning and unpainted tines, this kalimba lists for $30, so the 50% off coupon gets you this kalimba for $15 plus shipping. The video below gives you a demo of the standard C tuning, the C minor tuning, the Middle Eastern Tuning, and the Lotus tuning (Am/Dm, a wholestep above the standard Lotus tuning). See Our Tunings for the Magadi M17 Kalimba Why Do You Want a M17 Kalimba? The M17 is a large block-mounted kalimba with

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