A tool, an ancestor of the marimba, made up of a series of wooden or stone rods, was - probably from as early as prehistoric times - one of man's first melodic instruments. The history of these particular instruments and their diffusion is rather curious: they were amongst the first to open up to man the possibility of imitating (at least partially) the tonality of song. The construction principle of these instruments has remained the same in time and the manufacturing technique today outlines that of all Africa, Euro-Asian and oriental civilizations that for thousands of years have adopted the instrument in their musical tradition. The pitch of the note varies due to many factors: the thickness of the wood, the length and width of the rods, their hardness and weight. The musician's legs, on which a bar of wood was place transversally, were the first natural soundbox and the first support for the wooden xylophone or MARIMBA. Subsequently, various wooden rods, of differing tonality and thickness, were placed on a special fame. The soundbox was made up either of a hole (placed under the whole length of the instrument) or a series of gourds of varying sizes, placed under each element of the keyboard. The presence of this keyboard in the African area was reported at least five hundred years ago by the first explorers; the chronicles of the period describe wooden instruments, with this appearance and having different names: BALAFO, MARIMBA, MARIMBA, MALIMBA, MANZA, MBILA, BALINGA and many others. The MARIMBA is traditionally played by one or more musicians, one opposite the other, with the instruments placed at an angle between them. The plates of the keyboard are struck with light wooden drumsticks. In the case of this instrument, from Mozambique, there is a sort of arch-shaped handle to make transport easy.
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