_Ken Kolodner playing My Cape Breton Home and Purple Lilies, a native American tune.
—Video from the Roots Festival, Westminster, MD, 2008

Hammered Mbira

In April, 2006, I was teaching and performing at the Spring Fling Rendezvous, a lovely festival near Portland, Oregon. During a break between workshops, I was captivated by the sound of Don MacClane's hammered mbira. It turns out that Don essentially invented this instrument. It is the marriage (or in today's lingo, the civil union) of two instruments: the African instrument called the mbira and the hammered dulcimer. The mbira is best known as a thumb piano and comes from the Shona people of Zimbabwe. The hammered mbira is laid out like the hammered dulcimer but has metal rods instead of strings. It is capable of a variety of tonal qualities depending on the kind of hammers used. I have greatly enjoyed playing the instrument and often perform it in concert now.

Ken Kolodner CDs featuring the hammered mbira:
Otter Creek - Swift House

More Instruments

Hammered Dulcimer

Fiddle