AIRY-AIR AND BARI AIRY-AIR

Airy-Air is a lamellaphone – a member the family that includes mbiras, kalimbas and such. But unlike most instruments of that family, it has no soundboard to project the sound out into the air; instead, below each tine is a tuned tubular air resonator functioning like the tubular resonators of a marimba. To make this work, Airy-Air’s spring-steel tines are extra-wide, allowing them to push more air in and out of the resonators when they vibrate. The resulting tone is recognizably lamellaphone-like, but with a different flavor. I’ve made two Airy-Airs – one in the upper ranges, and another in the baritone range called Bari Airy-Air.

In the audio clip, Airy-Air is accompanied by Cubist Bass.