HOKEMA – Twin Kalimba

Twin Kalimba – the double Kalimba

The Twin is 30cm long and is fitted with two ‚dentically-tuned sets of tines so the instrument can be played by either one or two person.

Playing solo

Hold the Twin in both hands so that each thumb can reach one of the sets of tines. The thumbs can now play the nine tones on both sides of the instrument. A full sound, rich in overtones, is created due to the identical tuning of both sets of tines: each tone has its twin on the other side which then resondtes when its ‘brother’ is plucked. By plucking alternately with both thumbs, quite other tone sequences can be produced than on A single kalimba with the same tuning. The advanced kalimba player can play a wide range of other scales simply by retuning individual tones.

Playing duo

The real motive leading to the development of the Twin Kalimba was the desire to have an instrument that allows you to play together. Therapist/patient, couples, family members, friends etc. The identical tuning of the two sets of tines guarantees harmonious tone sequences and sounds. The resonance of the tones is picked up by the wooden corpus and can be physically felt by the partner. The kalimba stays in tune (Factory tuning in A-minor) when being played but the tuning can be changed if desired. Tones on the two sides of the instrument which differ from but nevertheless harmonize with each other are thus also possible.