The Kalimba (also callled mbira, likembe or thumb piano) is a plucked idiophone unique to Africa.

In the Zambezi Valley, around present-day Zimbabwe, the idea of the mbira was born and then spread throughout Africa.

The Kalimba is an instrument to accompany the voice. And in some societies, it is a tool to attract the spirits of ancestors, to bring them back for a time so that their advice might be heard.

In the mid 1960's the hippie underground was introduced to the instrument, and it spread further. Then mainstream music artists such as Taj Mahal and Earth, Wind and Fire started featuring the kalimba, and the kalimba's popularity soared.

In fact, Ramsey Lewis introduced the Kalimba to Maurice White.