Tone Layout
The Mini Kalimba for Beginners
The Hokema Kalimba B5 is the smallest model in Hokema's block kalimba series. The small thumb piano is handcrafted in Germany and has five sound tines on a solid wooden block made of American cherry. The Kalimba B5 is light, compact and robust, making it the ideal companion for travelling. It fits easily into any bag and is always ready to be played - whether in the park, on the beach or at home.
The Kalimba B5 feels light and warm in your hands, which immediately gives you a feeling of familiarity and connection with the instrument. The 5 tines are just as easy to pluck with the thumbs - even with very small hands.
For its size, the Kalimba B5 is surprisingly loud. The sound can be amplified by simply placing or sticking it on a suitable surface and resonator, such as a tabletop or a drumhead.
Intuitive and free playing with the F minor tuning
The Hokema Kalimba B5 F Minor allows intuitive and free playing without the need for sheet music or previous musical knowledge. It is child's play to experiment with this instrument and give free rein to your creativity.
The five reeds are precisely tuned and harmonise perfectly with each other in the F minor chord. This scale produces a meditative and soothing sound that is perfect for intuitive and free playing.
Kalimba Tuning
If you want to retune your Kalimba or experiment with other harmonies, you can easily tune it with the help of a small hammer. You can find instructions on our blog or directly at Hokema.
Sustainability
Especially worth mentioning is the sustainable manufacturing of the instruments at Hokema:
- energy-neutral production
- packaging and shipping free of plastics
- no tropical woods
- surfaces of the woods are only treated with linseed oil
- all materials are selected and processed for durability
Maintaining the Kalimba
You can easily care for the wooden body of your Kalimba by treating it with linseed oil, olive oil or another care oil. It is also best to rub the reeds with a vegetable oil or metal care product from time to time so that they do not patina so quickly. The tines of the Kalimba are made of spring steel, which has excellent sound properties, elasticity and stability, but can react to moisture. We therefore recommend that you always keep the spring steel reeds dry and wipe them with a soft cloth after playing.
Get more background information in our blog
In Germany kalimbas are produced at the workshop of Peter Hokema. Within this family business he has been making these instruments with excellent quality since 1985. Kalimbas by Hokema are made in a pentatonic tuning. One can play very well on these instruments without any musical educational background.
Anyone who plays a Kalimba regularly will certainly have noticed that the instrument begins to sound "inharmonic" or "weird" over time. Then the moment has come when you ask yourself, "What's going on here and how can I bring it back to its original condition?"
After reading this blog post, you'll have the know-how you need to make your Kalimba sound clean again.
Looking at the European museum catalogue for musical instruments MIMO, one can find almost 170 musical instruments under the keyword “lamellaphones in Africa”. Thereby one is often very different from another one. All instruments belong to one category for which we (Non-Africans) commonly use the generic term “kalimba”.
