Marimba MP3s

With Classical Steelbands in new Arrangements

Steel Drums and Marimba MP3 Recordings:

On this page we have brought together a selection of our Marimba MP3 recordings. The antecedents of the Marimba instrument, xylophones with resonance chambers, can be found in West Africa and it is thought that they were brought to central America by pre columbian slaves where they were refined and adopted as national instruments in places like Guatemala and southern Mexico. Similar resonant xylophones appear in South East Asia but there is no recognised route for them to have been transported to central America at the relevant time. When they traveled north to the USA manufacturers replaced wooden resonance tubes with metal ones and now we have remarkable synthesizer versions including the version we have used from the Modular Moog emulator in our Marimba MP3 music. The long duration resonances are very realistic and extremely processor hungry and for the moment that has limited our selection of pieces where we can use it.

Marimba and Gamelan Gongs

The most recent example of this approach are the new recordings we have made of different types of ragtime music where the marimbas work with Balinese Gamelan Orchestra Gongs and several different drums. They are illustrated in these examples:

These ragtime recording are samples of the recently added tunes. The majority of these new recordings feature the Balinese Gamelan Gongs with Marimbas in support and they can be found in the following sections Rags, Ragtime Dances, Ragtime Marches, Ragtime Intermezzos and Ragtime Novelties.