An idiochord ( la, idio – "self", chord – "string", also known as a drum zither) is a musical instrument in which the "string" of the instrument is made from the same material as its resonating body. Such instruments may be found in the Indian Ocean region, disparate regions of Africa and its diaspora, and parts of Europe and North America. Bamboo is often a popular material for idiochords: a tube of bamboo may be slit to loosen portions of the husk at the middle, leaving them attached at the ends, and these "strings" may be raised up by inserting sticks to serve as bridges. Such bamboo idiochords include the

valiha The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar made from a species of local bamboo; it is considered the " national instrument" of Madagascar. The term is also used to describe a number of related zithers of differing shapes and materials. Th ...

of Madagascar, the

kulibit The kulibit is a type of tube zither played by the Kalinga people of the Philippines. The instrument consists of a long tube of bamboo which has been slit to allow five or six strands of the bamboo husk to be played as "strings". The instrument is ...

in the Philippines and Indonesia, and the ''

karaniing The karaniing (or kereb among the Temiar people or Senoi people, or pergram among the Jah Hut people) is a type of bamboo tube zither played among the Orang Asli tribal peoples of Malaysia. The pergam variant is made with four strings (in two pai ...

'' of the Mon-Khmer "

Orang Asli Orang Asli (''lit''. "first people", "native people", "original people", "aborigines people" or "aboriginal people" in Malay) are a heterogeneous indigenous population forming a national minority in Malaysia. They are the oldest inhabitants of ...

" tribal peoples of Malaysia. A massive one-string bamboo idiochord, the ''

benta Benta is a major town in Lipis District, Pahang, Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three fe ...

'', is native to Jamaica and played with a slide, much like a

diddly-bow The diddley bow is a single-stringed American instrument which influenced the development of the blues sound. It consists of a single string of baling wire tensioned between two nails on a board over a glass bottle, which is used both as a brid ...

. Idiochords are also made from other materials; cornstalk was used in North America to make the

cornstalk fiddle The cornstalk fiddle is a toy, and a type of bowed string instrument played historically in North America. The instrument consists of a cornstalk, with slits cut into the shaft to allow one or more fibrous sections to separate from the main body an ...

, and the same instrument was played in the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The ...

, and in Serbia as the ''gingara'' or ''djefje guslice''. In Eastern New Guinea, one-string idiochords are made from the rib of the

sago palm Sago palm is a common name for several plants which are used to produce a starchy food known as sago. Sago palms may be "true palms" in the family Arecaceae, or cycads with a palm-like appearance. Sago produced from cycads must be detoxified before ...

. The

Warao people The Warao are an indigenous Amerindian people inhabiting northeastern Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname. Alternate common spellings of Warao are Waroa, Guarauno, Guarao, and Warrau. The term ''Warao'' translates as "the boat pe ...

of Venezuela and Guyana create a monochord idiochord by raising up a fiber from an eta leaf. Various idiochords are found in mainland Africa, including the akadingidi of Uganda, and the one-string ''mpeli'' of the Mpyeme people of Congo and the Central African Republic.

References

{{reflist, 30em Zithers String instruments

See also

References