Pure magic, the New Age Sansula is a delight to play. Perhaps the most beautiful sounding kalimba heard in Recording Studios Sydney, and with nine notes it is not so complex.
Recording Studios Sydney: The Hokema Sansula
The Sansula is one of the most beautiful sounding kalimbas on the planet and in recording studios sydney. It represents a confluence of superfine German engineered kalimba tines and metal pieces, a wonderful tuning and note layout that make it very easy to play, and the rich deep “wah wah” sound that is easily made with its frame drum. As such, the Sansula has very broad appeal – musical novices and inexperienced kalimba players can have great fun with the Sansula, but it can also hold the interest of experienced players, especially when one considers the alternative tunings, which are not quite as easy to make wonderful music on, but are significantly more capable. In addition, there are great books available for standard Sansula tuning as well as two alternative tunings – books that are worthy of these amazing instruments. The Sansula can be a very rewarding instrument to explore.
Recording Studios Sydney: The origin of the Sansula
http://www.kalimbamagic.com/newsletters/newsletter4.02/newsletter4.02_assets/KalimbaHistoryII.pdf
Dr Hugh Tracey’s work documents over a hundred different kinds of kalimba. Basically, each group of people who encountered the kalimba changed the instrument, its tuning, and its uses to fit their culture. One of those instruments was the mbira, which has a very important cultural use to the Shona people of Zimbabwe.
Just as African peoples adapted the kalimba to their own music, so did Hugh Tracey. He started building his own kalimbas in the late 1950s, using the western “Do Re Mi” scale.
