marimba

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marimba. Lat.-Amer. perc. instr. of African origin. It consists of strips of wood of different length with (tuned) resonators underneath, the whole fixed in a frame and struck with drum-sticks—in fact, a super-xylophone large enough for perf. by 4 players (or marimberos), standing or sitting side by side. Now made with bars of rosewood and tubular metal resonators which are struck with soft-headed hammers held by the player(s). Grainger scored for the marimba in the suite In a Nutshell before 1916. Milhaud wrote a conc. for marimba and vibraphone (1947) and Creston a conc. for marimba (1940). It now frequently occurs in orch. works.

The S. African original, known to Afrikaans-speaking Europeans as the kaffir piano, is called the malimba by natives.

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