Marimba

Term for a group of idiophones, some of which are plucked (lamellaphones) and some struck (xylophones), found in Africa (mainly Central and Southern) and Latin America; it is also a modern orchestral instrument. With calabash-resonated instruments the calabashes are individually tuned to the pitch of each key. Manufacture of the modern orchestral marimba began in the USA in 1910; its compass is normally about c-c‴ or higher (bass instruments may have a compass C-c′). The xylorimba (or marimba-xylophone) has an extended compass, C-c‴′. Composers such as Grainger, Milhaud, Orff and Messiaen have written for the marimba; Berg, Dallapiccola, Messiaen and Gerhard have used the xylorimba.

In Africa the terms mbila and mbira represent instruments of the marimba type; sanza represents the lamellaphone sub-type.