Kalimba Electro: Techniques for the Studio and Live Stage!
Check out this 83-second video featuring the Kalimba Electro by Hokema. With its built-in piezo pickup and 6.35mm jack socket, the Kalimba Electro picks up sound directly from the instrument — no microphone needed. Perfect for music producers, studio musicians, and live performers who want gorgeous pitched percussive notes in their setup.
This short video features musician and performance artist Connor Shafran with his live setup in Germany, pitch-shifting the kalimba sound in real time. He's followed by Oakland-based producer Sia Mozaffari a.k.a. Sia Seeds, demonstrating how he uses a keyboard and drum pad to trigger kalimba sound samples and loops.
You can see the B11 Kalimba Melody Electro in action — 11 tines tuned to G-Major. The Kalimba Electro also comes in more compact versions: 9 tines in A-minor, or 7 lower-octave tines in C-Major pentatonic. Like all Hokema Kalimbas, they can be retuned to virtually any scale using the kalimba tuning tool.
Time to Plug In
The kalimba — also known as Sansa or Mbira — originates from the traditional music of sub-Saharan Africa and is a form of the lamellophone. Several metal tines are attached to a sound box and plucked with the fingers or thumbs, producing a warm, soft, and gentle sound with a naturally relaxing effect. It can be played solo or blends harmoniously with other instruments.
Hokema makes both acoustic kalimbas and kalimbas with a built-in pickup for direct connection to an amp or audio interface — ideal for live shows, Zoom sessions, streaming, and Instagram Live. The Elektro models are equipped with a piezo pickup and 6.35mm jack socket, delivering clean, consistent sound capture without a microphone.
