Tell me about three thousand years.

Tik Tok occasionally brushes the little things shown below. It's a musical instrument, and the pop-up timbre is super nice. I'm curious, where did this little thing come from? After some searching, it turns out that this beautiful little box was invented by African brothers and has a long history.

First of all, the name of this instrument, Kalimba, is a traditional instrument from Africa, especially southern Africa. Kalimba's name is different in different countries. Kalimba is the name of Kenya, Zimbabwe calls it Mbila, and Congo calls it Rikmbe. In addition, there are names such as Sanza, Thumbeano and Nhare. Because it mainly uses two thumbs to pluck the pick on the piano body to make sound, it is also called thumb piano or thumb piano now.

The traditional Kalimbak can be traced back to West Africa more than 3,000 years ago. At first, the playing sheets were made of bamboo. After a long development, about 1 300 years ago, thin sheets made of iron began to appear in Zambezi River Basin, and now they are made of steel. This simple musical instrument once swept the whole African continent, especially in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Black brothers have a special liking for this little thing. In their belief, kalimba's beautiful voice can not only drive away the evil spirits of patients, but also be used to pray for rain. So in Zimbabwe and other countries, it usually appears in some religious ceremonies, weddings and parties.

Due to the different shapes of the thumb piano, the number of steel plates is not fixed. 10 to 32 steel plates are mostly arranged in single row or two rows. For example, the following * * * boxes or soundboards have different shapes and a high degree of DIY. As shown in the above picture, some thumbs are covered with soda bottles and other things, and they can hiss when playing. Local aborigines believe that this kind of voice can attract the attention of ancestors' souls, communicate with them and guide their souls to rest in peace, so in Zimbabwean, mbira dzavadzimu means the voice of ancestors.

The thumb piano in the picture above has a history of 200 years. Wooden iron pieces, whether patterns or statues of animals and people, are very African. This cultural relic comes from Chokwe tribe in Congo and China, and is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art in the United States.

The development of Thumb Qin in modern times benefited from an Englishman. 1920, Hugh Tracy, a British musician, discovered this interesting instrument during his tour in Africa, and he was deeply fascinated by it. Through his efforts, he recorded a large number of different thumb piano tuning and note layout. Tracy later set up an African musical instrument company in South Africa. According to the information at hand, she began to develop her own thumb piano with western standards. The name is kalimba, which is the kalimba Qin we see now. 1954, Tracy began to export his kalimba to all parts of the world and spread it all over the world.

Thomas Mapfoomo

The ethereal, clear and transparent sound similar to the music box quickly captured a group of die-hard fans. Many people want to play this little musical instrument, but the problem is that no one teaches it. Fortunately, in 1980s, Thomas Mapofmo, a legendary Zimbabwean musician nicknamed "Lion of Zimbabwe", brought this instrument and kalimba's music to the United States when he was in exile, and became one of the pioneers in spreading kalimba music in the United States.