The Kafir harp (known in the local language as waj, waji, vaj or vaji) is a traditional four- or five-stringed

arched harp An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vault ...

used by the

Nuristanis The Nuristanis, formerly known as Kafiristanis, are an ethnic group native to the Nuristan Province of northeastern Afghanistan and Chitral District of northwestern Pakistan. Their languages comprise the Nuristani branch of Indo-Iranian langu ...

native to the

Nuristan Province Nuristan, also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan (Dari: ; Kamkata-vari: ), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven districts and is Afghanistan's least populous province, wi ...

of northeastern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Lower Chitral District Lower Chitral District ( ps, چترال لر / کوز ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Demographics At the time of the 2017 census the district had a population of 278,328, o ...

of northwestern

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It is played during social gatherings, and to accompany epic storytelling or songs of heroic tales. Similar harps used to be widespread in ancient times throughout Central Asia and India, and this harp possibly entered Afghanistan during the spread of Buddhism across the region but today the ''waji'' is not used in any other part of Afghanistan. It has been compared to the ennanga of

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

and harp designs used in

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...

and ancient Egypt as far back as 3000 BC.

Construction and design

The Kafir harp is constructed of two main components, the soundbox and the stringholder. The soundbox is made from a hollowed piece of wood with a thick piece of animal skin stretched over it. The stringholder is a curved branch that sits on top of the soundbox, and up to five strings are pulled through holes created along the side of the branch. On one side of the branch, the strings are held in place with non-tuning knobs, on the other side the strings dangle off the instrument like tassels. One harp collected in an anthropological expedition in the 1950s had four strings that corresponded to the central

tetrachord In music theory, a tetrachord ( el, τετράχορδoν; lat, tetrachordum) is a series of four notes separated by three intervals. In traditional music theory, a tetrachord always spanned the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency propo ...

of the

Dorian mode Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different but interrelated subjects: one of the Ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' (characteristic melodic behaviour, or the scale structure associated with it); one of the medieval musical modes; or—mos ...

Playing technique

When one plays the Kafir harp one has to balance the sound box on the left arm, leaving the strings to face up, rather than away from the musician. It is played with a

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harpsic ...

in the right hand while using the left hand to mute certain strings. Stylistically, a piece of music featuring the Kafir harp may begin with an ostinato figure on the harp, underneath a soloist (who may or may not be the Kafir player himself) and/or by syncopated hand-clapping.

Cultural importance

The

, who claim a lineage back to

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

's Macedonian armies and who converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

in the late 19th century, inhabit a remote mountain area in the north-east. The instruments played in

Nuristan Nuristan, also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan (Dari: ; Kamkata-vari language, Kamkata-vari: ), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven Districts of Afghanistan, districts ...

tend to be unique to the region, and there are no similar types of zithers or harps like the kafir harp to be found in other parts of Afghanistan. This harp is played predominantly by men in the region.

References

{{Reflist Arched harps Afghan musical instruments Nuristan Province