this is my friend David Bellinger, he lives in Portland, Oregon. He's been building Kalimbas, also known as Mbiras for twenty plus years. i first stumbled upon him after buying and watching a CD/DVD called 'Congotronics 2: Buzz 'n' Rumble from the Urb 'n' Jungle [Live]'- check out the video snippet from it at the bottom.
Either way, i saw and heard this African music and was blown away by its literal electricity. Upon a quick google search to find out more I saw that David had been doing this domestically in the states for years. He has a shop, you can email, write, or phone him direct at his site. www.ekalimba.com. you can find more stuff there and on his myspace./ndouvid (although it looks like he hasn't been on since october).
