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How To Play
Mark Holdaway

How to Play the Chromatic Kalimba

Do you want a real challenge?  Do you want a kalimba that will allow you to play essentially any sort of melody or harmony?  Then the Chromatic Kalimba is your instrument. The Chromatic has the “white notes” on the front and the “black notes” on the back.

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How To Play
Mark Holdaway

How to Play the Pentatonic Kalimba

Wild and great fun, the pentatonic scale lets you cut loose and jam with an air of authenticity: the pentatonic scale is used by many indigenous peoples across the globe, and about 40% of the traditional African kalimbas Hugh Tracey studied used the pentatonic scale.

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How To Play
Mark Holdaway

How to Play Other Kalimbas

This page deals with a few resources for some of the orphans that don’t have pages of their own: Hugh Tracey Bb Treble, D Treble, and Hotshot-11, as well as the Hokema 5-Note Kalimba Choirs.

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History
Mark Holdaway

The Short Story

Hugh Tracey was an English ethnomusicologist who traveled widely in rural Africa in the first half of the 20th century. This man’s life’s work turned out to be the reason that kalimbas are known and loved by so many in the world today.

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A Bamboo 200
History
Mark Holdaway

Early Kalimba History

The kalimba has a rich and varied history in Africa that stretches back as much as 3000 years, but the metal tined kalimba is only about 1300 years old. The modern kalimba player can learn a lot from the strands of traditional African kalimba music.

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mbira 200
History
Mark Holdaway

Hugh Tracey meets the African thumb piano

Young Hugh Tracey is brought to Africa; he falls in love with its traditional music; his life’s work eventuates in the kalimba’s entering western consciousness. He was one of the first Europeans to fall in love with the African kalimba.

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MauriceWhite 200
History
Mark Holdaway

The kalimba meets pop culture

The kalimba might not have caught on had it not been in a Broadway music called Wait a Minim, had bluesman Taj Mahal not played it, and had Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire not wowed a nation with his electrified kalimba playing.

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