Africa

Central Africa

Cameroon

The Bilun hi kôba also called Hilun Bassa'a or simply Hilun, is an ancestral mystical-spiritual instrument used since the pre-colonial period by the Bassa people. Registered with the African Intellectual Property Organization, this forked harp with supernatural power is only played by people who have passed several initiation rites and mystical-religious tests lasting from seven to twenty-five years.

On the Bassa language, Hilun means the rope of the forest. A cordophone instrument, the harp is constructed from ripped wood, a piece of plywood, six rattan lianas, barbed wire and jute ropes. In local mythology, this harp comes from the genius or the spirits of the waters.

The women would have gone fishing and would have caught a spirit that played the hilun. Back in the village, the spirit would have disappeared leaving his instrument. These musical notes would have been perpetuated by the spirit and the women.

Cameroon

The Ngombi is a plucked string musical instrument from Central Africa (Central African Republic, Republic of Congo and Gabon). It is an arched harp used by the Kwele (or Kele), the Fangs as well as the Mboshi.

The 51 cm monoxyl wooden sound box (a protruding part of which is sometimes carved at the front) is naviform and covered with a rectangular soundboard in animal membrane, ligated or pegged, pierced with a round hole.

The curved handle fits into the body and is fixed with vegetable fibers. 8 gut strings are attached to it with wooden dowels.

  Congo

The Kundi, nkundi ou nedomu is a plucked string musical instrument. It is an arched harp from Central Africa (Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad and Cameroon) used by the Mangbetu, the Zandés and the Ngbandi.

The monoxyle wooden sound box is of semi-ovoid curved shape.

It is between 65 and 80 cm long. It is covered with an animal membrane (skin of antelope, elephant or reptile) sewn which acts as a soundboard pierced by two small round gills.

A curved handle is inserted there. Adorned with a small head, it supports five wooden pegs where the five gut strings are attached, connected to an easel-tailpiece in the form of cleats under the skin they pass through.

Congo

The Seto is a plucked string musical instrument. It is an anthropomorphic arched harp from Central Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) used by the Ngbaka, Bwaka, Ngbandi, Mbanja and Ngombe

The Monoxyle wooden sound box is anthropomorphic (in the shape of a standing figure). It is between 61 and 81 cm long. It is covered with a sewn animal membrane or an iron plate which acts as a soundboard pierced with a small round, triangular or trapezoidal hearing. A curved handle is inserted (planted in the head) where five to seven gut strings are attached by ankles.

They are stretched by fitting into the character's belly (the soundboard). Glass fragments represent the eyes; a pearl adorns an ear. Two legs extend the sound box.

Guinea

The Sintir is a plucked stringed musical instrument from the Gnawa (Guineans in Arabic). It is mainly found in North Africa in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia (used in stambali) and Mali where it was brought by the Gnaouas, slaves coming from Guinea.

It is also played by the Tuaregs and the Berbers. It is a derivative of the African n'goni

It is composed of a round wooden handle sometimes turned and sometimes polychrome which sinks into a box of resonancemonyl piriform in poplar, whose table of resonance is made with a stretched dromedary skin. This box, about 20 to 35 cm long, can also be made with the shell of a turtle. The three ropes originally in gut were gradually replaced by nylon fishing line.

The wooden pegs are cut with a penknife or roughly turned. A sistrum (sersera) is inserted in the handle. The musical spectrum is placed at low frequencies.

The sintir has three strings * but has no pegs to tension them. Instead, there is a process of leather or nylon ties, similar to those found on the Kora.

The sound box has a more rectangular shape, almost square, with rounded corners, decorated with upholstery nails, and can measure up to 55 or 60 cm long and 10 to 15 cm wide. The handle (broom) ends with a metal plate with rings that act as bells. the whole is more than a meter long.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Benign

The Adjalin is a stringed instrument from Benin, of ancient origin. It is also called a “raft zither”.

It is rectangular, made up of bamboo stems assembled in a raft and attached to each other using vegetable fibers, such as raffia.

Derived from traditional music of Benin, it is often used during public events and certain rituals. It is an instrument that can be practiced as a soloist or accompanied by a gong and a tom-tom.

Burundi

The Inanga is a primitive musical instrument related to a large zither on a bowl in the form of a shield from the Rwandan tradition and encountered in Burundi and the Congo.

The inanga is called ‘zither on bowl’, which alludes to the shape of the instrument: it is mounted on a flat sound box, with the edges slightly curved upwards, which gives it a bowl shape. Its dimensions vary from 75 to 115 cm long by 25 to 30 cm wide.

The sound box is a little smaller because it is surrounded by a ledge. At the narrow ends, this rim is much wider and provided with 8 to 12 incisions which hold the strings in place. Note, however, that not all incisions are occupied by a string, the number of strings always being less than the number of incisions. We generally prefer instruments of 6 to 8 strings: this group represents almost 90% of all inanga.

The sound box is decorated with two types of ornaments: on the one hand functional cutouts in the shape of a star or oval - the 'eyes of the inanga' - to diffuse the sound, and on the other hand geometric patterns pyrographed at the ends of the instrument.

Eritrea

The Krar is a stringed musical instrument, close to the lyre, found in Eritrea and Ethiopia. It should not be confused with the tanburah.

It is generally decorated with wood, fabrics and pearls. Its five or six strings determine the available musical pitches. The soundboard is made of animal membrane.

The krar is often played by musicians called azmaris and in principle it accompanies love songs and popular songs of Ethiopian music.
The timbre depends on the technique of the musician: when the strings are plucked, the instrument produces a soft timbre while by strumming it is possible to achieve harmonious pulsations.

Krar is a cordophone tuned on the pentatonic scale

Ethiopia

The Begena, bagana, bägänna is a string instrument used in Ethiopian music. It is a large lyre that should not be confused with krar. According to Ethiopian tradition, King Menelik I would have brought back the instrument from Israel where David would have used it to soothe King Saul's nerves and cure him of his insomnia. Its historical origin remains uncertain even if Ethiopian manuscripts represent the instrument from the beginning of the 15th century

The instrument has ten gut strings, six of which are plucked with the fingers of the left hand (1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, starting from the amount closest to the player). The other strings serve as supports or rests for the fingers. Between each string and the large bridge, a small piece of leather modifies the vibration of the string and is responsible for the sizzling timbre of the instrument. The uprights and the cross are in wood and the soundboard is in bovine leather.

The begena was originally used for meditation and prayer. Although mainly played in an intimate context, the instrument is sometimes included during religious festivals.

East Africa

Kenya

The Nyatiti is a traditional musical instrument from Kenya. It is a lyre played by the Luo of Lake Victoria. It comes from ancient Egypt (Middle Kingdom) before being adopted by the civilization of the black Pharaohs of Nubia (Low Period) where the Luo come from.
It is about 90 cm long.

The soundboard consists of a tank consisting of a 1⁄2 calabash or wooden and covered with leather from which eight strings are stretched (originally a large herbivore tendon but currently in sisal or even nylon or plastic) pinched two by two.

The crossbar which accommodates the fixing of the strings is parallel to the soundboard and in wood.

Madagascar

The Valiha is a variety of tubular bamboo zither found throughout Madagascar.

Its origins are undeniably Indonesian and we find variants of it, sometimes more primitive, sometimes more advanced, among most of the Malaysian mountain peoples, including those of the Philippines. It is also present among peoples of the same origin (the Jara, Edde, Curu, Raglai) of the Indochinese peninsula.

It is composed of a segment of bamboo (60 to 130 cm long) serving both as a soundboard and as a resonator thanks to a long longitudinal slit (hearing) between the non-drilled knots at the ends.

Initially, the strings were made by detaching the longitudinal fibers from the bark of the central bamboo to which they remained attached by their two ends. Shaped in the form of rough ropes, and raised above the table, they rested on small easels cut in a piece of cucurbit bark arranged around the bamboo, in two symmetrical half-helices: at low step of one side (multiple bridges, fixed), with large steps on the other (multiple saddles, movable), the latter alone being used for tuning the instrument by adjusting the vibrating length of the string.

The fibrous "strings" gave muffled percussion tones: subsequently, they were replaced by steel strings with very satisfactory results giving the current instrument a characteristic timbre, closer to the zither.

Madagascar

The Kabosy is a stringed musical instrument from Madagascar. It is a very old rustic guitar. The kabosy is used by many Malagasy artists like Dama from the Mahaleo group.

Originally made of a turtle shell stretched with zebu skin, today it has the shape of a 70 cm long guitar, with a rectangular (sometimes oval) sound box made of wood or jerrycan, pierced a large hearing in the center.

Its neck has special frets that do not cover the entire width of the fingerboard. It is mounted with six cords (nylon or metal) fixed on old-fashioned pegs. The tuning of the kabosy is often G-D-B-B-D-D or A-D-B-B-D-D. You can also use the guitar as a kabosy by tuning the E (treble) string in D.

It is an instrument to accompany popular song.

Ouganda

The Ennanga is a plucked string musical instrument. It is an arched harp from Central Africa (Uganda) used by the Gandas and Acholis.

The sound box in monoxyl wood (that is, cut from a single piece of wood) is oval in shape. It is 65 cm long. It is covered with an animal membrane (antelope skin) which acts as a soundboard pierced with a small round hole. It is connected to a small piece of leather located on the bottom by ligatures.

A curved handle is inserted into it, supporting 8 wooden pegs where the 8 gut strings are attached, connected to an easel-tailpiece under the skin they pass through. Small metal pieces can sometimes decorate the ankles, acting as bells.
It accompanies the singing of men.

Sudan

The Simsimiyya is a Sudano-Egyptian stringed musical instrument which reappeared at the beginning of the 20th century. It is a variety of lyre played mainly from the Suez Canal in Egypt to Yemen but which is also found in the Red Sea, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

It is also the name of a musical repertoire sung with this lyre.

The simsimiyya has a small wooden resonance box and a frame where are fixed between 5 and 25 strings in gut originally, but more and more, in metal, tuned in fifth according to the maqâm played.

It is played by shelling the strings as on a lyre, to accompany popular songs, tales or oriental dance.

Yemen

The Qanbüs is a plucked string instrument originating from Yemen where it is also called oud de Sanaa but which has spread in Oman, in Saudi Arabia, in the Archipelago of the Commores (mainly in the island of Anjouan).

It is about 80cm to 1m long and cut from a single piece of wood; the sound box is covered with a stretched goat skin and the four strings are made from gut.

In Anjouan, the gambus is more considered as an object of worship because it is used mainly to accompany the Sufi religious songs. It is, in this context, somewhat the equivalent of the guembri used by the Gnawa spiritual communities.

The gambus is also the instrument of choice for the Comorian singer Nawal, which makes her one of the few artists of international renown to play it.

There is also another smaller variant of gambusi (similar to the kabosa), present in the islands of Mohéli and Mayotte, which has less of this mystical dimension and which is more used as a real musical instrument.

North Africa

Algeria

The Kuitra is a musical instrument belonging to the family of cordophones. It is a short-necked lute close to the oud. It has been found since the 18th century in Algeria and where it constitutes one of the symbols of Algerian music.

It has four double strings stretched over an old-fashioned bent peg (with friction pegs). The chord is embraced (a string tuned to the octave adjoins another). The domed sound box resembles that of the oud, but it has only one large central rosette on the soundboard. The fingerboard is smooth, without fret.

We play with the help of a plectrum (rîsha) in eagle feather. The chord is: D - A - E - G or D - G - A - D.

Algeria

The Mandole eis a plucked string musical instrument of Algerian origin. It is mainly used in Chaabi music and Kabyle music.
It comes in various forms, but in general it is a kind of large mandolin with a flat case, provided with a long handle with 4 double strings (8 strings), in metal or 5 to 6 double strings (mandola -guitar).

Old instrument, with medieval origins, its current shape with flattened body owes its design to Hadj El Anka (1907-1978), a precursor of Algerian chaabi and to the realization of the Italian luthier Bellido in 1932. This flattened version of Bellido will make its entry into the medh orchestra.

Algeria

The Mandoluth is a string instrument from Algeria. The word mandolute was also used by an American manufacturer for its mandolins.

Having the same shape as the Algerian mandola with 5 double strings, the mandoluth (mandole-lute) also has 5 double strings with the addition of a fret in the middle of the second fret and another fret in the middle of the fourth fret for the 1/4 tone. It is mainly used in Kabyle music. It is played with a plectrum.

Algeria

The Mandore or mandola also known as gallizona or gallichon, is a stringed musical instrument from the Middle Ages, similar to the lute, with 3, 4 or 6 strings which produces a higher pitch. Its half-pear shaped case prefigures the mandolin of which it is the ancestor.

This instrument is no longer in use in Europe, but attested until the 17th century. In 1578 a (lost) tablature by Pierre Brunet was published for this instrument; similarly François de Chancy published his own in 1629. The instrument played a marginal role in musical practice, far behind the lute.

The Algerian chaabi and Kabyle music use an instrument from the Arab-Andalusian music of the family of mandoles (with guitar tones, equipped with four double metal strings) designated by the term of mandole or "Algerian mandole".

The term mandole (but not mandore) can also designate the tenor of the family of mandolins, tuned an octave below the soprano. Among Anglo-Saxons, the term mandola designates the viola of this family, a fifth under the soprano.

Egypt

The Kissar is an ancient lyre of the peoples of Nubia which is still used today in Egypt and Ethiopia.

It consists of a body which was traditionally made of a turtle shell but which is now made of wood. Its sound box is covered with a sheepskin in which three small holes are drilled. Five gut strings are tied at the end of a handle similar to that used on a modern guitar.

With the right hand, the player plucks the strings using a pick for the melody, while with the left hand he plucks some strings slightly to produce a continuous accompaniment sound.

Egypt

The Mwett designates a stringed musical instrument known from ancient Egypt, and, with the capital letter, a set of warrior tales which are played accompanied by this instrument, forming the Ekang culture.

Born during the exodus of the Ekang people (Beti-Fang-Bulu) that we find today scattered between Gabon, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and on the island of São Tomé, mvetts songs were declaimed to fighters to excite them before battles.

Beyond the use in wartime, the art of Mvett encompasses all aspects of Fang culture, whether poetry, philosophy or scientific knowledge of the world, which leads Fangs to say Mvett that it is a total art.

The mvett is a cordophone, a small harp-zither on a palm-raffia stick, or bamboo, 110 to 130 cm long with one to four calabash resonators, a high vertical bridge placed in the middle, dividing the length of four to five gut strings

Close to the musical arc, the instrument is held horizontally on the chest which closes or opens the central resonator in an open half-calabash, by a simple front-back movement of the arms, while the two hands strike the melodies on both sides some ropes.

This instrument is used alone or to accompany Fang songs, especially in Gabon and Cameroon

Canary Islands

The Timple is a plucked string musical instrument typical of the Canary Islands. In the shape of a small guitar with four or five strings, depending on the region, with a sound box with a domed back (the hump). Towards the end of the 20th century, versions of the timple with six or more strings also appeared.

The timple seems to be a specific evolution of the baroque guitar, which was introduced to the islands during the Spanish conquest between 1402 and 1496. The Spanish brought the first stringed instruments to the archipelago. It seems to be the ancestor of the Latin American tipled.

The total length of the timple is approximately 61 cm, distributed as follows: The vibrating length of the rope is approximately 40 cm.
On the upper part of the body - which is tightened in its middle part - there is often a protection of the table called the golpeador. The depth of the body at the deepest point of the hump is approximately 8.5 cm.

Different wood species (Cedar, Lime, Maple, Cypress, Walnut ...) are used for the different parts.

The timple has since its introduction been integrated into all forms of folk music of the Canary Islands, but it is also used today in baroque music interpretations, and more widely in all types of music.

The strings do not go from the lowest to the highest as on a guitar. In the most common form of the instrument, with five strings, the lowest string is the E string (the 3rd), then the G string (the 5th), then the string of the (the 2nd), then the C string (the 4th) and finally the D string (the 1st).

The five strings are inside the same octave

Morocco

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The Guembri is a plucked stringed musical instrument from the Gnawa (Guineans in Arabic). It is mainly found in North Africa in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia (used in stambali) and Mali where it was brought by the Gnaouas, slaves coming from Guinea. It is also played by the Tuaregs and the Berbers. It is a derivative of the African n'goni.

It is composed of a round wooden handle sometimes turned and sometimes polychrome which is inserted in a box of resonance monoxyl piriform in poplar, whose table of resonance is made with a stretched dromedary skin.

This box, about 20 to 35 cm long, can also be made with the shell of a turtle. The three ropes originally in gut were gradually replaced by nylon fishing line. The wooden pegs are cut with a penknife or roughly turned. A sistrum (sersera) is inserted in the handle.

The musical spectrum is placed at low frequencies.

Morocco

The Loutar is a Berber plucked string instrument from the oud (lute) family, originally from Algeria and Morocco. It is conventionally made of wood and piriform (elongated pear shape).

It is an instrument which is attached to the oud (lute) family having the strings parallel to a handle, originally with three simple plucked strings, of the guembri family.

The gumbri is a kind of lute, the body is made of a piece of cedar wood, hollowed out, piriform or rounded, covered with a felted sheepskin and mounted with two or three strings. Today he has nylon strings. It is mainly used in Amazigh music from the Middle Atlas (Morocco), especially in Khénifra.

It is different from its Near and Middle East cousin, the oud, by the number of strings, in fact it has four single strings (and not double strings like the oud).

West Africa

Gambia

The Kora is a string musical instrument from West Africa.

It is a mandingo lute harp (Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone ...).

According to legend, the first kora was the personal instrument of a woman-genius who lived in the Kansala caves in The Gambia.

The kora should not be confused with other fairly similar stringed instruments such as the n'goni or the bolon. The first description of the kora, called konting (confused with the lute ekonting) by the explorers of the last centuries, evoked a 10-string instrument.

The kora consists of a large half-calabash 40 to 60 cm in diameter, hollowed out and pierced with a hole of 10 cm in diameter by way of hearing (in the upper right). Two other holes (above and below) allow the handle to pass through the gourd.

It is covered with cowhide (ox, deer or deer) parchment stretched wet, which serves as a soundboard and on which depends the amplitude of the sound. It is held in place by upholstery nails driven into the calabash in various patterns, then the skin is cut.

A wooden "cross" (called barambando) and two wooden hand supports (handles called bulkalamo) serve as "dams" (like on guitars) and are slid under the skin which will be pierced to let them out.

The long handle of about 1.20 m to 1.40 m ensures the connection between the main vibrating elements of the kora (strings and gourd). It is traditionally made of a long piece of venetian wood called guénou or guéni (rosewood from Senegal) which is used for making balafons, and is sometimes decorated with sculptures. In its lower part the handle crosses the calabash. In its upper part, the handle ensures the tension of the strings by means of rings or keys (mechanical guitar or pegs).

The strings of the kora rest on a large wooden easel, held on the skin by the only pressure of the strings, the number of which is generally 21. However, we sometimes meet koras equipped with 22 to 28 strings, especially in Casamance in Senegal, and there is even a special model of 32 strings

Mali

The Bappe is a plucked string instrument from West Africa. It is a term designating several similar instruments which are either lutes or harp-lutes.

70 cm long, it is made of a solid wood naviform sound box, covered with calf skin and a round, thin wooden handle that does not fully pass through. The nylon strings (4 traditionally, but up to 7 today) are fixed with leather rings, parallel to the instrument's handle which follows the same line as the sound box. They pass on a small fan-shaped easel.

Only the two middle strings are played, the others being only drones. We play with a right thumb and index finger, like a banjo, of which he is certainly one of the ancestors.

Mauritania

The Ardîne is a string musical instrument from West Africa. It is a harp with a variable number of strings (from 9 to 14), constructed from a calabash, used by the Mauritanian morello cherries (iggawins) as well as in Western Sahara.

The calabash measures approximately 50 cm in diameter; covered with stretched skin, it acts as a resonator. The handle, one meter or more, sinks into the calabash. The strings are connected to the handle by a specific system of wooden pegs which allow their adjustment and, to the percussion table, by a tailor who is integral with it.

The ardine is used either as a string instrument or, when the singer herself is accompanied by other instruments such as the tidinit, as a percussion instrument. The two functions can sometimes be used simultaneously, by the sour cherry alone, or with the help of an assistant.

Senegal

The Bunchundo is an African string instrument. It is an old rustic lute from the country diola in Casamance in Senegal, in Gambia and in Guinea. It is notably used in Senegalese music.

It would be the ancestor of the banjo and it should not be confused with the kora, the bolon, the n'goni, which are harps-lutes.

Its sound box is a half-calabash hollowed out from 20 to 50 cm in diameter, covered with a goat skin fixed by upholsterer nails, which serves as a soundboard. A very long and very thin bamboo, papyrus or wooden handle, more than a meter, runs right through it. Three strings are attached, one of which is drone or chanterelle.

It is granted in D G F or C F E. We play it in pick-up, with the index finger that goes back and forth on the strings of play and the thumb on the chanterelle, mainly agrarian or hunting songs

Senegal

The Busunde is an African string instrument. It is an old rustic lute from the country diola in Casamance in Senegal, in Gambia and in Guinea. It is notably used in Senegalese music.

It would be the ancestor of the banjo and it should not be confused with the kora, the bolon, the n'goni, which are harps-lutes.
Its sound box is a half-calabash hollowed out from 20 to 50 cm in diameter, covered with a goat skin fixed by upholsterer nails, which serves as a soundboard. A very long and very thin bamboo, papyrus or wooden handle, more than a meter, runs right through it. Three strings are attached, one of which is drone or chanterelle.

It is granted in D Gl F or C F E. We play it in pick-up, with the index finger that goes back and forth on the strings of play and the thumb on the chanterelle, mainly agrarian or hunting songs.

Senegal

The Econting is an old rustic lute from the country diola in Casamance in Senegal, in Gambia and in Guinea. It is notably used in Senegalese music.

It is an instrument similar to the bunchundo of the Manjaques, the busunde of the Papels, the gambra of the Haratins, the gullum of the Kilbas, the gurmi, komo, komsaet wase of the Hausas, the kaburu of the Gwaris, the kibewe of the Konkombas, the kisinta and kusunde Balantes, koliko des Frafras, konde des Bissas, lawa des Kotokolis, ngopata des Bujogos, ngulang des Banas and xalam gesere des Mandingues. Entofen has an oval rather than spherical shape.

It would be the ancestor of the banjo and it should not be confused with the kora, the bolon, the n'goni, which are harps-lutes
Its sound box is a half-calabash hollowed out from 20 to 50 cm in diameter, covered with a goat skin fixed by upholsterer nails, which serves as a soundboard. A very long and very thin bamboo, papyrus or wooden handle, more than a meter, runs right through it. Three strings are attached, one of which is drone or chanterelle.

It is granted in  G F or do F E. We play it in a pick-up, with the index finger back and forth on the strings and the thumb on the chanterelle, mainly agrarian or hunting songs.

Senegal

The Endongo (also called entongoli by the Soga) is an African musical instrument related to the lyre. It is found in the interlacustrine region of Uganda, where it is the national instrument of the Ganda people, although variations exist in various regions of East Africa. It is fitted with a semi-spherical wooden sound box which is covered with a lizard skin and crossed by two sticks.

A third stick, around which eight plucked cords are knotted, serves as a yoke1. It is played at weddings and school festivals by griot. Few endongo are produced today, its manufacture being extremely difficult.

It is not known when the lyre arrived in Uganda. Wachsmann hypothesized that it was brought by the Luopendant from waves of migration from Sudan towards the end of the 15th century.

Before the monitor lizards became protected species, their skin was used to cover the sound box.

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