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The kalimba is an instrument in the percussion family. It is a modernized version of the African mbira. It is a sound box with metal keys attached to the top to give the different notes. It is also known as the African thumb piano.

Lamellophones are instruments which have little tines or lamella which are played by plucking. Unlike string instruments or air column instruments like flutes, the overtones of a plucked lamella are an-harmonic (ie, the overtones and the fundamental vibration don't harmonize), giving the kalimba a rather odd sound. However, the an-harmonic overtones are strongest in the attack and die out rather quickly, leaving an almost pure tone which is quite beautiful.

The tuning of most kalimbas, with the notes in the scale ascending on the tines from the center outward in an alternating right-left fashion, results in chords being made by adjacent tines. When any tine is plucked, the adjacent tines also vibrate, and these harmonizing secondary vibrations serve a similar role to the harmonic overtones of a string instrument - they increase the harmonic complexity of an individual note, though in a strange yet pleasing way.