Maker
Hugh Tracey
The kalimba, standardised and tuned
The ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey spent decades recording southern African music and then built a tuned, durable version of the mbira for players outside the tradition. The instruments are still made in South Africa and are what most of the world means by "kalimba".
Models
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Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba
Hand percussion · South Africa
The alto sits an octave below the treble with fifteen tines, and is the one most often used for accompaniment rather than melody.
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Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba
Hand percussion · South Africa
Tracey's kalimba takes the mbira of southern Africa and gives it a Western diatonic tuning and a solid resonating board, which made it playable by people outside the tradition and turned it into the instrument most of the world calls a kalimba.
Sources
Categories
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Hand Percussion
Congas, bongos, djembes, cajons, timbales, frame drums, and the small instruments that live on a percussion table: tambourines, cowbells, shakers, and claves.
Representative model
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Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba
Hand percussion · South Africa
Tracey's kalimba takes the mbira of southern Africa and gives it a Western diatonic tuning and a solid resonating board, which made it playable by people outside the tradition and turned it into the instrument most of the world calls a kalimba.