Kalimba Beat

Original - Oil on gallery wrap canvas
24" x 30"

I was inspired to do this painting after attending a wonderful jazz session featuring Kevin Spears who played on an electric Kalimba at a small café in Atlanta. I did not know there was such a thing as an electric Kalimba and he rocked the house! In doing my musical series I like to include all forms of musical instruments from African American history and this is one of them. The Kalimba leads the parade of instruments from ancient to modern and they are tied together by the greenery representing life. In the background are ancestor spirits represented by the partials of sculpture and the blackness of the universe that is full and holds us all together. The visual motion of this painting is created by the travel of light and sound as the rhythm of the Kalimba weaves the other instruments into a parade of culture.