Topic: Thumb Piano-Kalimba-Mbira

First time I saw (on video) one one this.

From quite complex:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3b1bz_9gEo

To compact:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jybfYyzIUbo       (Pocket "piano" --- as difficult as type in a d... small cell phone ?  )


To ultra simple: 

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But I found something disturbing...
Instruments made with the cheapest wood available (agglomerated wood)  They really do exist...

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Last edited by Beto-Music (10-03-2017 17:29)

Re: Thumb Piano-Kalimba-Mbira

Just to avoit open another topic.


The weirdest music machine ever:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q

Re: Thumb Piano-Kalimba-Mbira

I own 4 of these, 2 of them are made from a cabassa (Burkina Fasso), another one from a "cigar box" (a real one!) - Tanzania, and the last one is made with a turtle shell... I know, it's prohibited, but it's an old one. And the best sounding is the cigar box !

Last edited by Luc Henrion (11-03-2017 10:14)

Re: Thumb Piano-Kalimba-Mbira

Curiously, these tine-based instruments are not much different in simplicity and solitary of tone and sound (or at least similarity) as David Klavins' Una Corda piano.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R49faHgWW9w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrqH4yqjnHs

- David

Re: Thumb Piano-Kalimba-Mbira

Nice sound in the "...Courtyard" video.

Re: Thumb Piano-Kalimba-Mbira

Una Corda and Una Corda virtual:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfHK7_lSY-0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG6lqd_mYvY

Re: Thumb Piano-Kalimba-Mbira

Beto-Music wrote:

Instruments made with the cheapest wood available (agglomerated wood)

I understand what you mean by "agglomerated", but that is not a term I have heard used in that context in English.

The correct English term you are looking for is "plywood", which is a term from the construction industry. The fancier term often used in the musical instrument trade is "laminate wood". Sometimes you hear of "high-pressure laminate" or "HPL" for short; that's a material used in some low-end Martin guitars, for example.

Dayton, Ohio, United States of America
macOS 10.14.6 Mojave • Apple MacBook Pro (2017), no Touch Bar • 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5, 2 core • 8GB RAM

Re: Thumb Piano-Kalimba-Mbira

By the way, the mbira, or kalimba, was originally an African folk instrument made by a blacksmith hammering iron nails into thinner flexible tines which were then mounted on a resonating wooden chamber and plucked with the thumbs.

The mbira is often referred to as the "thumb piano". It is my understanding that "kalimba" was at one time a trade name for a company that made mbiras, and today some people still refer to any mbira as a "kalimba".

In the modern ones I have seen in the USA, typically the metal tines are tuned to a diatonic scale.

I know of a company in the USA, Colorado Soundscapes,  which has refined the mbira design to a great degree. Their mbiras have precision tuning mechanisms for each key, and a built-in pickup in the body so you can easily amplify the instrument and also run its output through guitar effects pedals and the like.

http://coloradosoundscapes.com/kalimbas/

Last edited by Wheat Williams (13-03-2017 21:13)
Dayton, Ohio, United States of America
macOS 10.14.6 Mojave • Apple MacBook Pro (2017), no Touch Bar • 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5, 2 core • 8GB RAM

Re: Thumb Piano-Kalimba-Mbira

I love Kalimbas.

Ever since I saw the first one, I had a very strong connection.

I now manage a Kalimba Shop https://kalimbera.com
and a Kalimba Forum - https://KalimbaForum.com

Please come say hello one day! There's plenty of Kalimba wisdom there.