Online ReporterThe Rhodesia Herald
13 February 1978
THE KWANONGOMA College of Music in Bulawayo has sold marimbas a traditional African musical instrument to America, South Africa, and centres throughout Rhodesia.
The director of the college, Mr Olof Axellson, said the marimba had virtually died out in Rhodesia until the college started to make them in the 1960s.
The xylophone type marimbas were originally ramshackle affairs, made from bamboo or calabashes with rough wooden keys. “We are keeping African music alive and making advancements all the time.
“With the marimbas made here, the sound clear, the instruments may be transported without falling apart, yet we have maintained the traditional African sound,” said Mr Axellson.
“We have analysed many of the African instruments and are stopping them from becoming merely museum pieces. Kwanongoma is the only place where the instruments are produced we are keeping the art alive,” he said.
“Western instruments are produced throughout the world, so why should we allow African instruments to become a thing of the past?” he said.
“The marimba was all but forgotten in this country until we re-introduced it,” he said.
