Performance: Kalimba for All

Saturday, 8/23/2025
2:00 - 3:00
Eureka Valley General Floor Area
Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial

1 Jose Sarria Court
San Francisco, CA 94114
United States

415-355-5616

Learn about the ethereal, mysterious kalimba, a.k.a. the African thumb piano, with expert Carl Winters.  Hear jazz, blues, gospel and R&B played on the kalimba and play it yourself while hearing how the instrument has been used in African cultures.  

Carl Winters was born in San Antonio, TX and comes from a musical family. His inspiration to begin playing/studying the Kalimba (African thumb piano) came in the 1970s from Maurice White, founder of Earth, Wind, & Fire. After playing with various jazz groups in Houston, Winters moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and became an elementary school teacher where he incorporated music into the curriculum. For 25 years, his students, known as the “Kalimba Kids”, performed for the Hayward Unified School District Superintendent & staff, the Mayor of Hayward & staff, churches, TV & Radio stations, restaurants, nursing homes and schools. Winters assists with the Allen Temple Baptist Church Children’s Choir. He has performed at the Smithsonian Institution, the Gullah Festival in South Carolina, the Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD) and various other museums and churches across the country. 

Connect:

Kalimba King - Website

Performance

Events featuring theater, music, art and dance.

Summer Stride

Summer Stride is the Library's annual summer learning, reading and exploration program for all ages and abilities. Read and learn with the Library all summer long.

More Than a Month: Black Interest

Connect to engaging discussions and performances related to the Black community.

More Than a Month recognizes important events in Black history, honors community and national leaders and fosters steps towards collective change. Programming features authors, poets and craft classes. 

This program is sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Attending Programs

All programs are drop-in (no registration necessary) unless otherwise noted. All SFPL locations are wheelchair accessible. For accommodations (such as ASL), call (415) 557-4557 or contact accessibility@sfpl.org. Requesting at least 3 business days in advance will help ensure availability.

This program will be conducted in English unless otherwise noted.

Notice: This event may be filmed or photographed. By participating in this event, you consent to have your likeness used for the Library’s archival purposes and promotional materials. If you do not want to be photographed, please inform a staff person or the photographer. A sticker will be provided to help identify you so that we can avoid capturing your image.

Public Notice and Disclaimer

This program uses a third-party website link. By clicking on the third-party website link, you will leave SFPL's website and enter a website not operated by SFPL. This service may collect personally identifying information about you, such as name, username, email address, and password. This service will treat the information it collects about you pursuant to its own privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of each third-party website or service that you visit or use, including those third parties with whom you interact through our Library services. For more information about these third-party links, please see the section of SFPL’s Privacy Policy describing Links to Other Sites.

The views and opinions expressed in programs presented by groups unaffiliated with SFPL do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SFPL or the City.