African Music – The Blog of Samite

Posts Tagged ‘ikembe’

The Finger Harp is known by many names in Africa: mbira, kalimba and ikembe, though various regions of the continent use one name more than others.

This beautiful sounding instrument traces its roots to the 1920s and businessman Hugh Tracey who emigrated from England to Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia.  He came to assist his brother with a tobacco farm however he was quickly enchanted by the local culture.

Music was particularly intriguing to Tracey.  By the 1960s he created a kind of mbira called the kalimba which became popular throughout the world.  The performer is able to use both thumbs to play harmony and for that reason, the kalimba, translated as “little music”, is popular in the West.  The kalimba is also played in Asia, the Middle East and South and North America because of its ease of use.

The mbira is similar. Like the kalimba it uses wood and strings to produce sound.  The mbira has metal tongues called lamellas on top.  The sound box itself if made of wood or gourd, and demonstrating the industrious spirit of the African people, the metal keys are sometimes make from old mattress spring wire, bicycle spokes or the handles of spoons.

Sound is produced by plucking the strings with the thumbs, or thumbs and fingers.  It is common to find holes drilled into the sides of the box so the musician can vary the resonance and sound by blocking the holes.

All of the finger harps produce a sound that is well suited for diverse melodies and rhythms.  There are usually two melodic parts in the music created for this instrument; a kushaura and a kutsinhira, and the sound is typically a pattern of four 12 beat phrases.

The Finger Harp is often played along with other performers who clap and sing, making this instrument a joyful and soulful expression of African sound.

Click on the picture of Samite at the lower right to order his new CD, “My Music World”.

The translation of Kalimba is little music, and it is a perfect blend of African sounds adapted to include Western tastes.

Developed in the 1960s by Englishman Hugh Tracey, it is often referred to as the thumb piano for allowing the musician to play harmony using both thumbs.

Tracey relocated from Great Britain to Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, to assist in the operation of a tobacco farm owned by his brother in the 1920’s. While there, he became fascinated by the African music culture, particularly an instrument called the mbira.  Tracey invented the modern Kalimba based on the construction of the mbira.

There is some cross-pollination of these instruments in Africa.  In Zimbabwe the population still refers to the instrument as the mbira and in Kenya they say Kalimba.  To further confuse the issue, in Rwanda and the Congo the instrument is called an ikembe.  Less common names are the sanza, marimba and marimbula.

Perhaps the most generic name for this marvelous instrument is the thumb piano, gourd piano and finger harp.

Essentially, the Kalimba, pronounced ka-leem’-buh, is a wooden box with metal keys called lamellas adhered to the top.  The keys are sometimes made from cane while the box is made from an African hardwood called kyat.

Traditional African self-reliance has some of these beautiful instruments fashioned out of bicycle spokes, spoon handles or discarded wire that is shaped into the necessary length for plucking.   These strings are plucked with the two thumbs or a combination of thumbs and fingers.

The strings or keys are 20 to 24 in number, placed on two bars on the sound box.  The loose ends of the keys are various lengths which provide the different pitches.  Like any stringed instrument of the West, a longer string produces a lower pitch and a shorter string accords a higher pitch.

Our friend Samite is a master of Kalimba music, so why not invite his artistry into your home?

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