Aaron Spalding

Aaron Thomas Spalding (b. Lafayette, February 7, 1976 - d. November 16, 2016) -- Multi-instrumentalist (especially the mbira, an "African Thumb Piano). Spalding started playing the bass at age eight and became a percussionists in his teens. A graduate of Benton Central High School, he attended IVY Tech and later went to Florida University in Gainesville. At age twenty-two, he discovered the mbira and immediately became hooked. He played with a local group called Zimbiana, which, still in existence, is dedicated to the music of Zimbabwe. In 1998, he helped form Bliss Gypsys, which recorded CDs and toured the United States and Canada. At some point in the 2000s, he moved to Gainesville and taught the mbira privately and gave lectures on the instrument. He also made several instructional videos on how to play ethnic percussion instruments. At the time of his early death at age forty, he was living back in Lafayette.