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Re: DIY Kalimbas

PostPosted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 11:46 pm
by p.a.dogs1
A clips with this wonderful kind of instrument:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps79OUXDYZY

Another version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ccPH2cvTOc

p.a.dogs1

Re: DIY Kalimbas

PostPosted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:19 am
by wooddrum
Garvin wrote:... I have a few Hugh Tracy Kalimbas... I frequent the Kalimba Magic site.
Mark Holdaway is doing a lot for the Kalimbaworld with his Kalimbamagic site. The Hugh Tracey Kalimbas are very good sounding Instruments imo. Unfortunally i had allways problems with the weak Socket Jacks of the HT Kalimbas. I made the Tineo Kalimba as bass extension for the HT Treble Kalimba... the same tuning but one octave lower and 5 mm tines for some exta bass vibrations ;)

King Conga wrote:I recommend that you give your kalimbas a brand name, what do you think? :D
The brand of my Cajonworkshop projects is TribeHolz and if i decide to brand them, i will use this :-)

Re: DIY Kalimbas

PostPosted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:37 am
by Mike
Here is not really a DIY kalimba of mine,
but rather an African-made one:
P1030015.JPG

P1030016.JPG

Made by Hukwe Zawose (R.I.P.), who was an outstanding East African musician.
This instrument is a very personal matter, as I was the bus driver for his tour
in Germany almost 25 years ago, and I paid him a visit in his home town in Tanzania in 1994
which was when he made this one for me.
The holes were burnt with an iron rod, the steel tongues are springs hammered flat,
and the resonating jingles , in the national colors of Tanzania were formerly food and drink cans.

Technically not nearly as perfect than your beautiful kalimbas, wooddrum,
but mine plays very well though, in tribal tuning of Mr. Zawose, not pentatonic
like many kalimbas, but rather like a C7/9 chord with all the notes in between.

P.S:: Here is a video clip about the Zawose family: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M7-_hFAEDY

As you can see, their kalimbas came in many sizes, and they have also been used therapeutically.

Re: DIY Kalimbas

PostPosted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 10:03 am
by wooddrum
This is a cool story, Mike! And the instrument is looking great! It shows where it all comes from! But i donĀ“t have this African background. My background is something between funk, punk, (kraut)rock, electro, world and jazz, and i want to use Lamellophones for this purpose. Okay, i show two pics of one of my currently projects. This is an Arraymbira 4 octaves, 120 tines, made by Patrick Hadley and Bill Wesley. I use it together with an Octatrack and a Line6 M9.