The origin of the Kalimba

Kalimbas are priceless ancient instruments which have a very rich cultural history. Its roots are in Africa, and this instrument is quite coveted for its ancestry. We are going all gaga nowadays about this small and lovely gizmo, but we actually should know the history behind this amazing instrument as that is indeed one kind of a story. Kalimbas have had their own journey through time and continents and they have indeed made us all captivators of its charms. Kalimbas were born from Mbiras, the mother of these little thumb pianos and this quaint instrument has been chosen in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity proudly. So let us delve deeper into the past to dig more into this beautiful instrument.

The history

Mbiras have been into existence since eons in Africa. These percussion instruments emitted a buzzing sound that is pure elixir. From the family of plucked idiophones, mbiras were created as one of the advanced lamellophones where the sound box was a gourd to which lamellas or plates where attached. The gourd made that deep buzzing sound. This instrument was used in all the ritualistic occasions by the Shona tribal people in Zimbabwe. It was used in death rites like the ‘Bira ceremony’ or any holy auspicious occasions and its sound was simply relaxing and serene. They believed that the mbira’s sound could please the spirits of their ancestors and playing music on them would make their ancestors bless them and protect them from evil and danger. These mbiras were created 3000 years ago in the Zambezi valley and they were slowly spreading all over the continent especially through the Kalahari Desert. As people started playing more and more, its demand began rising.

The tines of mbiras were created and set in the Do-re-mi scale which were tuned accordingly. These mbiras were found in Portugal in the 18th century and at some different sites in Africa and portraits and paintings have been recovered where it has been seen that a man is playing the Kalimba. Variants of mbiras like the gourd piano, sansa, sanzu, likimba, finger harp and Kalimbas began to be made. Kalimbas are said to be born 1300 years ago and they used to be made of wood with tines attached on the sound board. These tines were made from metal and they were often carved out of old bicycle spooks and their likes. As time evolved, Kalimba began spreading in Africa but during that time it wasn’t recognized as one. It was thought to be a variant of the lamellophone and was said to be a kind of mbira.

From here, in the year 1950, Hugh Tracey, the erudite ethnomusicologist, came across this little mbira. He worked on it and improvised it a bit and then was born our very own Kalimba. Hugh Tracey introduced it to the world and now you can see for yourself how much this instrument is in vogue. Hugh Tracey admired African music and he fell deeply in love with this instrument. He made variants of it and toured all over the world and held concerts where he talked about this instrument and its music and people started making more and more of Kalimbas thereby increasing its popularity far and wide. ‘Wait a minim’ was one of Tracey’s musical review tours organised by his sons, where he explained everything he documented about this instrument. This caused people to gain more interest in African music and it can be said that it was Hugh Tracey’s vigorous efforts that made everyone preserve the African musical heritage.

Initially, the music-instrument makers made the Kalimbas with five notes but later the number of tines were raised, but the most common to see is a 17 key Kalimba. These modern-day Kalimbas have their tunes set at the C major scale or the G scale and you can tune it to any scale you please, but the beginners love to kalimba songs on c scale because it doesn’t require re-tuning with a hammer and a tuner.  The Kalimbas are made from several other material at present and their shapes have also been modified. The contemporary Kalimba is built according to the Western music theory and as time will pass, the love and interest for this instrument will rise ten folds. However, the past of this magical instrument is known to a few sadly and it is our duty to spread its astounding back story far and near.