Mbira/Timbila, Karimba/Marimba: A Look at Some Relationships Between African Mbira and Marimba

These Kaffirs have another musical instrument, also called an ambira, very similar to that just described, but it is all made of iron instead of gourds, being composed of narrow flat rods of iron about a palm in length, tempered in the fire so that each has a different sound. There are only nine of these rods, placed in a row close together, with the ends nailed to a piece of wood like the bridge of a violin, from which they hang over a hollow in the wood, which is shaped like a bowl, above which the other ends of the rods are suspended in the air. The Kaffirs play upon this instrument by striking the loose ends of the rods with their thumb-nails, which they allow to grow long for that purpose, and they strike the keys as lightly as a good player strikes those of a harpsichord. Thus the iron rods being shaken and the blows resounding above the hollow of the bowl, after the fashion of a jew’s harp, they produce altogether a sweet and gentle harmony of accordant sounds. This instrument is much more musical than that made of gourds, but it is not so loud, and is generally played in the king’s palace, for it is very soft and makes but little noise (Theal 1901:203).