The difference between Kalimba and Mbira| GECKO

Kalimba is a musical instrument with national characteristics in Africa. It gets its name by using the thumb to move the flakes on the body of the piano, which are made of wood, bamboo and metal in modern development. The kalimba sound is ethereal, like the sound of Ding Dong of spring water, which is very healing. It is very easy to learn, just press the corresponding number on kalimba in front of Jane spectrum. The compact size is easy to carry, and it has been liked by many people.

The timbre is beautiful

Similar to the sound of the music box, it is ethereal and pleasant, clear and clear, long and long, so good to hear that the ears will get pregnant, and the moderate volume does not disturb the people.

Simple and easy to learn

Flat board kalimba is also one of the easiest musical instruments to learn. Now it is common to have 8 notes, 17 notes and 21 notes. Compared with the 88 notes of the piano, it is a piece of cake. Moreover, notes are engraved on the keys. Facing the given music score, repeated finger playing exercises can be learned quickly. Even rookies who do not understand music theory can quickly learn. Student Party learning will not hinder your studies, and it is easy for you to learn a musical instrument. Why not do it?

Have a good appearance

The piano body of kalimba is made of pure wood, using Acacia wood, walnut wood, rose wood, maple wood, black walnut wood, beech wood, golden nanmu, safflower pear and so on. Generally, these valuable wood are mostly used for high-end household manufacturing. You can imagine how good-looking kalimba is.

Price is close to the people

Compared with tens of thousands of guitars and pianos, the price is very civilian, more than a hundred people can easily have a high-end kalimba.

Portable and easy to carry

Kalimba is small and exquisite, larger than the size of the slap, easy to carry, can also be easily brought outdoors or travel, you can play an impromptu song anytime and anywhere.

Why Kalimba is not Mbira

The kalimba looks very similar to the mbira. Both instruments are made of wooden soundboards with steel keys that the player presses and releases with his fingers to produce a quiet bell. Despite these similarities, kalimba and mbira are not the same instrument. Even the mbira tuned by kalimba is different from kalimba, but is consistent with it. Kalimba is actually a smaller modern version of mbira, and its history in Zimbabwe can be traced back more than 1000 years.

Although there are some subtle differences between kalimba and mbira, including double-row keys on mbira and single-row keys on kalimba, the main difference between the two instruments lies in their scales. Kalimba has the seven-tone diatonic scale used in traditional Western music, while the non-Western scale mbira has the same notes, but in a different order. Because of kalimba's diatonic scale, each combination of two notes creates a diatonic interval, making it easy to create harmony.

Kalimba also has different percussion elements. Instead of the mbira buzzer, the traditional kalimba has two holes at the bottom of the sound board. If you move your fingers in and out of the hole, you will get a "wa-wa" effect. However, like the kalimbas used by many African musicians, kalimbas has a buzzer to create the unique buzzing effect of mbira.

These are the differences between Kalimba and Mbira. If you want to know more about Kalimba, please feel free to contact us.