The precious and multifaceted Hokema Sansula Deluxe
The Sansula Deluxe was created out of the desire to further develop the wonderful Sansula Basic and to complement its full, spherical sound with the advantages of a robust membrane and individual adjustment possibilities.
The result is a rich-sounding Sansula that is even more forgiving of a more energetic playing style or a somewhat rougher handling. Since its cherrywood frame is covered with hard-wearing calfskin, the Sansula Deluxe is also suitable for children's hands. The excellent sound characteristics of the evenly structured natural calf skin drumhead will please beginners and professionals alike, because with the Deluxe model, nuanced sound carpets can be created that float long-lasting and full of overtones.
The Sansula Deluxe is wonderfully suitable for improvisation and the integrated tensioning device is an invitation to experiment. If you loosen the skin membrane slightly with the help of the small screwdriver, this creates an expressive floating effect. The sounds seem to wobble. And by opening and closing the resonance chamber - for example, by playing the Sansula on a flat surface and lifting it again and again - you can modulate the sound with a beautiful wah-wah effect that sounds particularly intense on the low notes.
In its versatility, the Sansula Deluxe is not only suitable for melodious sound creations, but also for supportive use in therapeutic and educational work. Its powerful, loud sound makes it the ideal solo instrument.
The different Sansula models
In addition to the Deluxe, there are also the Basic and Renaissance models. The Sansula Basic has a thinner and less sturdy drumhead made of cellulose, while the Sansula Renaissance is equipped with a synthetic drumhead from REMO. Besides the factory tuning A minor pentatonic 440 Hz, there are many other tunings and also variants with the concert pitch A4 = 432 Hz.
The drumheads of the Basic, Renaissance and Deluxe
The Hokema Sansula Deluxe is a further development of the Sansula Basic. The Basic sounds excellent, but has the disadvantage that it must not be dropped or roughly handled.
The Sansula Renaissance, with its synthetic head, is not as sensitive to changes in humidity and temperature as the Sansula Deluxe, but it also does not have as many effect possibilities due to different tensions of the drumhead.
Tunings
You can choose from eight Sansula tunings. However, we do not always have all of them in stock, so please contact us if you are interested in a particular tuning.
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A minor (A4, C5, C4, A4, A3, F4, E4, E5, B4)
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A major (A4, C#5, C#4, A4, A3, F#4, E4, E5, B4)
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Akebono (A4, D5, D4, A4, A3, F4, E4, E5, A#4)
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Hijaz (G4, C5, D4, A4, A3, F#4, D#4, D#5, A#4)
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A minor 7 (A4, C5, C4, G4, A3, F4, E4, E5, B4)
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Pygmy (A4, D5, D4, A4, A3, F4, E4, F5, C4)
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D major (A4, D5, D4, A4, A3, F#4, E4, F#5, B4)
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Heavenly A (A4, C#5, D4, G#4, A3, F#4, E4, E5, B4)
Sansulas in 432 Hz
Due to the high demand we also offer several Sansula models with the concert pitch A4 = 432 Hz. If your desired Sansula is not in stock, please contact us.
Sansula tuning
If you want to retune your Sansula, bring it into one of the above mentioned tunings 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 Sansula
You can easily care for the wooden frame of your Sansula 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 Sansula 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”.