News and Announcements

  The short answer: the D Treble Kalimba, modified from the Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba, is modeled after the Alto Kalimba, and it “reads” Alto Tablature. Get an Alto Book or Download, and it will work for this kalimba. What do you notice about the kalimba above? The richly grained kiaat wood is an exceptional example of the Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba. It has a 1/4 inch jack and a pickup. And look at the painted tines – the far left and right tines are painted, and three unpainted tines congregate at the low central tines… and one of those tines has a dot on it! Why? Whats up with

Video of “Awesome Jig”, the final song in the Olive-9 Booklet. The Olive-9 Kalimba, made by Magadi in China, was new to us earlier this month. Now, I am happy to announce that there is a 36-page booklet with sound recordings that will help you find your way with this amazing cool and economical kalimba. Most of the book is on the introductory level, but the video above is a jig I wrote for the Olive-9 that really highlights how it can dance in your hands. A truly rousing tune that gets my wife dancing! We will include this booklet with every Olive-9 we sell. If you bought the Olivie-9

I am rebuilding some Hugh Tracey Kalimbas in the layout of Mufrika Edward’s karimba. Mufrika Edward is a Zambian karimba player whose music can be found on Facebook. These rebuilt Hugh Tracey karimbas are 14-Note instruments in F#. The lower row of 8 notes is basically the same as the mbira nyunga nyunga, or the student karimba. The upper row notes are arranged differently from the nyunga, and that is where this instrument shines with delight. With this karimba, set up like Mufrika’s own hand made instruments, you can watch Mufrika’s music videos and play along, note for note. By the way, I understand that Mufrika Edward is making his

As each kalimba is tuned to a lower pitch, the low tines are closer to the sound hole. The standard tuning for the Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba is G major (the far left kalimba above). This is G below Middle C. For reference sake: the new crop of 17-Note kalimbas in C (not shown above) have a low note of Middle C. My old Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba (I bought it around 1988) came in standard G. Around 2010 I tuned it down to F, and in 2019 I further tuned it down to E. I accomplished this retuning by pulling the tines further out and making the vibrating length

We are looking for a spirit that transcends paper and ink. These kalimba practice tips are from my old 2006 book “Kalimba Fundamentals for the Alto Kalimba.” I recently upgraded it to also be available as a PDF download. I play a dozen different musical instruments, and playing the kalimba is quite different from any other. The kalimba stretches your mind in two directions at once! These tips will help you get the most out of your kalimba practice, no matter what kalimba you play. * Try walking while playing. If you do, always try to walk in time with the beat of the music. Let your walk be a

People ordering our books internationally have run into problems with expensive postal fees. The answer? Don’t buy a kalimba book, but purchase an instructional download. It costs less, you don’t pay for shipping, and you can click to get the sound recording to hear how the song goes. The Alto Fundamentals eBook is a good introductory PDF eBook for the Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba – 34 pages with tablature, photos and live links to MP3 files. When I learned how to play kalimba 35 years ago, there were no books.  16 years ago, this was the very first kalimba book I wrote that uses kalimba tablature. You can learn more

Each new kalimba tuning is a different universe of possibilities. Some of those alternative musical universes are very similar to one another. But some tunings present totally different music unlike what the other tunings can play. A few times, I have imagined a tuning, and then gone and fiddled with my kalimba until it played what I imagined. But most great tunings are discovered rather than invented. By this, I mean that maybe you came up with that tuning by accident, and then you discover what that tuning can do! The B11 Kalimba is a great platform for new alternative tunings. This video focuses on the lessons taught by four

Maurice White of the R&B/Funk/Pop band “Earth, Wind & Fire” came out of Chicago at the same time the AfroHarp was being made. He surely held an AfroHarp in his hands. But Maurice White was following the lead of  his kalimba mentor, Phil Cohran. Cohran had an African-made pentatonic-tuned kalimba. Unlike the AfroHarp or the karimba, Cohran’s kalimba had the tines all on the same level. That speaks to the diversity of traditional kalimbas in Africa. Maurice White couldn’t find a traditional African-made instrument like Cohran’s. Instead, he found the Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba, in a diatonic “Do Re Mi fa So La Ti Do” tuning. Maurice quickly retuned the

Look up Francis Bebey on YouTube. He made great, diverse, charismatic groove-based music in Cameroon in the 1970s. Many of his songs featured his kalimba playing. He also played guitar, and sang. But often, he led his band with kalimba and singing. To my ear, each of Francis Bebey’s kalimba songs used a different kalimba tuning. (He was the opposite of Maurice White, who seemed to use the same tuning on all of his songs.) My take on that: each of Francis Bebey’s kalimbas had a different tuning, and each played different music. Each of his kalimbas had a different song. One of my favorite Fancis Bebey songs is “Breaths”,