The Magic of Marimba

24 minutes

Produced for CNN Inside Africa

Its early origins remain a mystery, it’s sound distinctive …

Pops Mohamed, jazz musician… “I think that the marimba is a very important instrument and when you look at a marimba you think of Africa … it talks to your soul”.

Part 1

They’re one of the youngest all-girl marimba bands in South Africa. Introduced to the instrument fewer than two years ago, their lively repertoire includes local favorites such as Mbube, the Click Song and this Zulu prayer.

But it was for their inspired, African-style interpretation of classical pieces by Beethoven and Vivaldi, that they received acclaim on a tour to the United Kingdom last year.

Part 2

Combining music, movement and storytelling, this is MarimbaWorx for kids, a program to delight, enchant and teach. Mpumi Madingoane is a teacher from the N G O, Education Africa. She says this program is designed to awaken the innate musicality of children as young as 4 years old.

“Mainly we use marimbas and djembes which is so easy for the kids to adapt to … and it’s so easy for them to start at an early age”.

The class is centered on a set of original stories about South Africa’s wild animals. The marimba is incorporated into the story to illustrate simple musical concepts such as rhythm and tempo … deep, slow notes for the elephants, and high pitched, faster-paced notes for the springboks.

Part 3

Pairing the energetic rhythms of more than two hundred and fifty African marimbas, with the kindred sounds of twenty-two steelpans, this is the International Marimba and Steelpan Festival, the largest event of its kind in the world.

Extending over two tightly packed days, at the heart of the event is a competition featuring two hundred and fifty performances, including the participation of more than eighty schools.