Many people, even if themselves no musicians, know vaguely that such a "kalimba" is African in origin, perhaps only due to the name. Others with somewhat more knowledge might know about the Mbira in Africa (Zimbabwe a.a.) too, or heard about it.
The kalimba, with characteristic - often ovally round or rectangular - gourd, wooden, or even coconut shell (I have one with coconut shell) and metal tines, with the longest, lowest sounding in the middle, and the higher, shorter ones to the sides. Between 17 or 8 tines (representing notes), depending on level. The hole in the middle helps resonate. It is known in the Western world, among the common public, and associated with "World music" and Africa.
Well, the irony is, is that it is typically African, yet not entirely African. The kalimba as we know it, that is. This was, after all, an adapted version of an authentic African instrument, the Mbira, created in the 1950s by English ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey. He adapted in the 1950s the actual traditional and authentic, but more complex, Mbira from the Shona people in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, to a simpler form to be learned more easily in other cultures, such as Western countries, applying also Western musical terms (Alt, octave). The Kalimba has an African name, but is thus a Westernized version of the Shona/Zimbabwean Mbira lamellophone: plucked by thumbs in the same way, but the original Mbira has more notes/tines, and layers of notes (between 22 and 28 tines, being a standard).
SHONA
Among the Shona people in Zimbabwe, the Mbira is a very important in their culture and even religion. It is considered a sacred instrument. Very interesting, as are its present uses, and connections with popular music artists like Thomas Mapfumo. Much of this information, however, can be found easily on Wikipedia, YouTube or elsewhere, so there is not much use repeating it all here on this post.
WIDER
This is however still a limited approach to this instrument. Hugh Tracey resided in South Africa, and studied as ethnomusicologist mainly in Southern Africa, such as Zimbabwe. Ethnomusicologists point out, however, that comparable "thumb pianos" and lamellophones as such, have been and are common throughout other parts of Africa too, in different shapes and forms. It is said to go back 3000 years, starting with wooden and bamboo tines, first found in the Cameroonian region..
I noticed that already at a museum exhibition in Amsterdam, Netherlands, I went years ago. This well documented exhibition at the anthropological Tropenmuseum (Tropics museum), showed many of these "types of kalimbas" or lamellophones throughout Africa (historically), These were different types, sizes and forms, and of different materials, small/big, few tines (some just 4, f.i.), many tines (over 20), but all sharing musical principles.
It was also pointed out that such "kalimba-like" lamellophones are quite unique to Africa. And of course its diaspora, as the bass MarÃmbula in Afro-Cuban music, is in fact a bigger, bass version of a kalimba/mbira. It had that function in traditional, acoustic Afro-Cuban music, such as Eastern Cuban Son and Changui, and still in part.
There were also lamellophones in part of Africa, the said exhibition showed, with also nonmetallic, but bamboo tines, earlier in history than the Shona/Zimbabwean Mbira. Original creations by Africans, without a white ethnomusicologist involved in them. This shows the long tradition in Africa, and the influence on music. They have different names in different parts of Africa for them, Ikembe, Sanza, Chisanji, Eleke, among them.
Parts of Africa, and cultures that had such lamellophones traditionally, include of course the Mbira of Zimbabwe and similar ones in neighouring countries (Mozambique, Malawi), but also in what is now DR Congo, Cameroun, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and other countries.
Interestingly, in Ghana they have the large "bass" lamellophone called Prempensua, similar to the Marimbula used in Cuba and other Caribbean islands, such as in the old Jamaican folk genre Mento (still played by some, such as the band the Jolly Boys).
Among the Yoruba in Nigeria/Benin there is also a large lamelophone used, called Agidigbo, with mostly 5 larger tines, having a bass and synchronizing function with e.g. talking drums. It has a deep, sonorous sound.
This seems a distinctively African instrument type, expressing perhaps a sense of "Africanness" , though in Siberia a "plucked" lamellophone-type instrument is also found, and in a few other places outside of Africa.
Plucking just by thumb is in that sense overall quite unique to African culture, leaving for the other fingers a mere "holding" function, and the thumb therefore more creative and active. Also, in the West African (Mande area) Ngoni lute, the thumb is in a sense singled out to pluck the chords, but along with the index finger.
LACUNAE
Though there is somewhat documented academically about the Mbira among the Shona, and how Hugh Tracey based the globalized and Westernized Kalimba on it, there are still some knowledge lacunae, it seems, regarding the African lamellophones. At least what is readily aviable on the Internet, noticeable also on the Wikipedia page on lamellophones. That can after all only base itself on academic sources and studies, though lack of interest may play a role too.
I personally was specifically interested in bamboo-tines lamellophones, since I own one, and used it in several of my compositions (percussion instrumentals). You can safely say that this rectangular bamboo-tined "kalimba", "sanza" - how you want to call it - acompanied me during my life, having it for over 20 years now.
I do not even remember well where I bought it, I only have a strong "hunch". Some scenes I remember well, for some "magical" reason - such as standing in a Fair Trade shop, with many non-Western products, including small instruments. I vaguely remember seeing such lamellophones there. I do not even remember where in the Netherlands this Fair Trade shop was, because I went to some in Amsterdam and Leyden in that period.
I somehow sensed it was African, and maybe it was written when I bought it, but I do not remember that.
QUEST
Interestingly, since then a quite latent but recurring "quest" began, regarding the origins of this lamellophone I own and play. I saw in a book or online a similar bamboo-tined sanza from Cameroon, assuming that mine must be too, but it was not identical, only similar. In the said Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, the Cameroon-origin thesis seemed confirmed, as in the collection of lamellophones this museum exhibited, the ones that ressembled mine most, were indeed from Cameroun.
The Wikipedia article, and other sources, further explained that two separate inventions of the lamellophone/thumb piano took place historically: of bamboo- or wooden tines in West Africa - specifically the Cameroon area! -, and of metal tines in the Zambezi region, Southern Africa, the latter resulting in the well-known Mbira. These metal-tined lamellophones then spread throughout the whole continent.
Did the older, bamboo-tined branch got largely replaced by this, or just disregarded? I only found the bamboo-tined ones in musea (a former colonial one, at that), suggesting its present use seems limited. In folk music (probably), let alone regarding translations to pop music, where at least the metal-tined ones got some attention (e.g. Earth Wind & Fire, Taj Mahal, Thomas Mapfumo).
It is a pity because I have learned to love the sound of my bamboo-tined lamellophone. Bamboo tines have and interesting difference with metal sounds. A study in itself. As I use other bamboo instruments too - such as a self-made "bambulafon" - I noticed that hitting - or "plucking" as with lamellophones - bamboo, results in a far-reaching sound.. Not "long" but far-reaching. The sound itself is short and sharp. Its resonance is nonetheless mysteriously wider that it seems. Bamboo is a type of grass, so that might make it that "earthy".
Metal tines - of course - have a longer resonating, "warmer" and deeper, as well as more malleable, sound . This makes them for some preferable. Yet, the bamboo tines have an own feel with their sound, more "earthy" and, indeed, "grassy". It sounds more like nature itself. The metal tines - that I also like - sound more like "humans in harmony with nature" (reflection on it), which is also nice.
The two types of lamellophones and their sounds could combine well, but seldom are, because of cultural differences, in traditional contexts. Some modern composers - like myself - might do that experimentally, and so I did.
CAMEROON
So, from what I could find, without total certainty, my bamboo-tined lamellophone/"sanza" is originally African, and probably from the Cameroun area. Simply because all lamellophones that I saw that were similar to mine, were described as from Cameroon. Bordering areas (Efik area, SE Nigeria), also had quite similar ones (with bamboo tines).
https://musicaparaver.org/instruments/type/sansa
http://www.nscottrobinson.com/mbira.php
I still lack "hard evidence", but it has a high probability. My next question is then: are these bamboo-tined sanzas still used in folk music in Cameroon, or elsewhere?
Some sources seemed to point at NW Cameroon, other ones to similar lamellophones as mine also among the Bamana in Mali.
My quest still continues..
Meanwhile, the different types of lamellophones/mbira's throughout Africa, have still wide and varied musical and cultural roles: time-passing for travellers as known in the Congo region, entertainment, also inciting rain in some cultures, talking with the ancestors in several ones, and other spiritual uses, just like the Mbira has for the Shona in Zimbabwe.
It has an important role in African culture, and its specific sounds, rhythms and patterns have influenced later African (pop) genres, such as in Zimbabwe, Soukous in the Congo region where the guitar riffs seem modelled after sansa/"kalimba" playing..
MARIMBULA
With the African diaspora, following the slave trade, the relative of these African lamellophone was developed first in Eastern Cuba, based on African models. This was the MarÃmbula, a big lamellophone, with a bass function.
In that part of Cuba, a large percentage of enslaved Africans brought there between the 16th and 19th c. were from the Congo region, relatively many, although there were Africans from other regions too (Yoruba, Calabar/Efik, Rara/Ewe) in Eastern Cuba too. So both the (precursor?) to the Yoruba, also large and "bass" Agidigbo lamellophone might have been a model, as well as the several sansas/mbiras in the Congo region and Central Africa.
Anyway, from Eastern Cuba, it would spread over time to the whole Caribbean and Latin America, up to Argentina, including Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and nearby Caribbean islands. With that, this Afro-Cuban Marimbula has been the most widely spread and best known "Mbira" like instrument, after the Mbira itself, and of course the Kalimba.
The Marimbula's function is however simplified in the Americas: a bass function, and with fewer tines also. Less melodies, or in complex polyrhythms, as with the Mbira and other lamellophones in Africa, but simpler and bass-like in function. In Cuban Son (Changui) music (also from Eastern Cuba), the marimbula is still used in traditional contexts, but in later Son groups, mostly replaced by standing (acoustic) or electric bass guitars. Especially in Salsa music - for about 70% based on Son - the electric bass guitar became more common.
When I went to Cuba several times in the period 2001-2006, I visited many musical performances, and saw both bass guitars (one time an electric one, more often acoustic ones), and a few times musicians still brought Marimbulas, in more acoustic settings.
I have now a part coconut/wooden, metal-tined ("standard") kalimba too, with 7 metal tines, which is less "authentic" (I believe it is produced in SE Asia), but sounds nice too.
My already mentioned other one - that like I said, I do not even remember well buying - is especially precious to me, because I have a longer history with it, also musically.
ORIGINAL
Fittingly, with its bamboo tines, and traditional design, it comes close to the old, original, "very first" lamellophones in Africa... with bamboo tines, before metal took over across Africa. This original, bamboo-tineed one is the oldest invented one in Africa, they say in the Cameroon area. This makes this sansa quite special.
BB King named one of his guitars Lucille. Maybe I should give my sanza/lamellophone a nice Cameroonian personal name, haha
