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Lyres
Yoke lutes, commonly called lyres, are a class of string instruments, subfamily of lutes, indicated with the codes 321.21 and 321.22 in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification. Description Yoke lutes are defined as instruments with one or more strings, arranged parallel to the sound board and attached to a yoke A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, used in dif ... lying on the same plane as the sound table, composed of two arms and a crosspiece. All of the instruments of the ancient Greek lyre family were played by strumming the strings, but modern African lyres are most often plucked; a few yoke lutes are played with a bow. The sound box can be either bowl-shaped (321.21) or box-shaped (321.22). In the first case, the resonator is often a turtle shell, while the sound board ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyre
The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke that lies in the same plane as the sound table, and consists of two arms and a crossbar. The lyre has its origins in ancient history. Lyres were used in several ancient cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The earliest known examples of the lyre have been recovered at archeological sites that date to c. 2700 BCE in Mesopotamia. The oldest lyres from the Fertile Crescent are known as the eastern lyres and are distinguished from other ancient lyres by their flat base. They have been found at archaeological sites in Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, and the Levant. In a discussion of the Nubian lyre, Carl Engel notes that modern Egyptians call it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kinnor
Kinnor ( ''kīnnōr'') is an ancient Israelite musical instrument in the yoke lutes family, the first one to be mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Its exact identification is unclear, but in the modern day it is generally translated as "harp" or "lyre", and associated with a type of lyre depicted in Israelite imagery, particularly the Bar Kokhba coins. It has been referred to as the "national instrument" of the Jewish people, and modern luthiers have created reproduction lyres of the kinnor based on this imagery. The word has subsequently come to mean violin in Modern Hebrew. Identification The kinnor is generally agreed to be a stringed instrument, and thus the stringed instrument most commonly mentioned in the Old Testament. The kinnor is also the first string instrument to be mentioned in the Bible, appearing in Genesis 4:21. Details Construction Josephus describes the kinnor as having 10 strings, made from a sheep's small intestine, and played with a plectrum (pick), t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kithara
The kithara (), Latinized as cithara, was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the yoke lutes family. It was a seven-stringed professional version of the lyre, which was regarded as a rustic, or folk instrument, appropriate for teaching music to beginners. As opposed to the simpler lyre, the cithara was primarily used by professional musicians, called kitharodes. In modern Greek, the word ''kithara'' has come to mean "guitar", a word which etymologically stems from ''kithara''. Origin and uses The cithara originated from Minoan- Mycenaean swan-neck lyres developed and used during the Aegean Bronze Age. Scholars such as M.L. West, Martha Maas, and Jane M. Snyder have made connections between the cithara and stringed instruments from ancient Anatolia. Whereas the basic lyra was widely used as a teaching instrument in boys’ schools, the cithara was a virtuoso's instrument and generally known as requiring a great deal of skill.: Aristotle calls the cithara an ''organo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simsimiyya
The ''simsimiyya'' (Arabic: سمسمية, and سنسمية ''simsimyya/sinsimiyya''; pl. ''simsimiyyāt/sinsimiyyāt'') is a box or bowl lyre used in Egypt. Models exist with both circular soundboxes as well as rectangular. In the past, Egyptian models had 5 strings. The strings are held in place by pegs instead of tuning rings. Today, images of the instrument in Egypt may show 12 strings. It has been played since ancient times. It is used in Egypt in certain genres of Egyptian music, including ''Sawahli'' (coastal) music, which is a type of popular Egyptian music from the country's northern coast. The simsimiyya was probably introduced to the country's northern coast from the Nile valley in the 19th century by Egyptian workers in the Suez canal. It is also used in other genres of Egyptian music. Well-known Egyptian bands that feature the simsimiyya as a main instrument include El Tanbura, which uses other Egyptian instruments. The simsimiyya is often used to accompany Egypti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obokano
The ''obokano'' (also spelled ''obukano'') is a large bass bowl lyre from Kenya. It is used by the Gusii ethnic group. The instrument is made from a skin of a cow or goat and a bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, storing, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom, forming a seamless curve ... like structure curved out of a wood stump. It consists of eight strings whose tensions on the crossbar can be adjusted to produce different tones. It has been described as "the double-bass of East Africa." References Further reading *Hyslop, Graham. "Some Musical Instruments of Kenya." ''African Arts'', vol. 5, no. 4 (Summer 1972), pp. 48-55. *Varnum, John P. "The Obokano of the Gusii: A Bowl Lyre of East Africa." ''Ethnomusicology'', vol. 15, no. 2. (May 1971), pp. 242-248. External links''Obokano'' audio sample [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nyatiti
The nyatiti is a five to eight-stringed plucked bowl yoke lute from Kenya. It is a classical instrument played by the Luo (Kenya and Tanzania), Luo people of Western Kenya, specifically in the Siaya region south of Kisumu. It is about two to three feet long with a bowl-shaped, carved wood resonator covered in cow skin. Historically, strings were fashioned from cattle tendons, but modern players almost exclusively use nylon and plastic fishing line of various sizes, a move which changed the sound of the nyatiti drastically. The nyatiti as played in Kenya usually has eight strings. Though the register will vary to match a comfortable singing range of the player, a typical tuning will be, from top to bottom, B-A-G#-E-E-D-B-A, where the outside strings are the same note at the same pitch, and the middle two are an octave apart. Many modern players use individual tunings to match their particular musical style. The most common playing style uses the thumb and middle finger of both ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Litungu
The ''litungu'' is a traditional lyre played by the Luhya ethnic group of Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ... (including the Bukusu subgroup). It has seven strings. Other varieties of ''litungu'' are used by the Kurya and Kisii ethnic groups. References"Some Musical Instruments of Kenya" by Graham Hyslop (''African Arts'', v. 5, no. 4, Summer 1972, pp. 48–55). External links''Litungu'' photoh2> Listening Kenyan musical instruments Lyres {{Lyre-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Krar
The ''krar'' (Geʽez: ክራር) is a five-or-six stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is tuned to a pentatonic scale. A modern ''krar'' may be Instrument amplifier, amplified, much in the same way as an electric guitar or electric violin, violin. The ''krar'', along with the ''masenqo'' and the ''washint'', is one of the most widespread musical instruments in Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Role in society Historical In Amhara People, Amhara society, the ''krar'' was viewed as an instrument inspired by the Devil and was therefore inferior, whereas the ''Begena'' was for praising God and seen as sacred. The ''krar'' was used to adulate feminine beauty, create sexual arousal, and eulogize carnal love. The Derg regime banned playing the krar and imprisoned people who played it, especially in the big cities such as Asmara and Addis Ababa. The instrument has been associated with brigands, outlaws, and ''Wata'' or ''Azmari'' wanderers. Wanderers played the ''krar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kissar
The ''kissar'' (also spelled ''kissir''), tanbour or gytarah barbaryeh is the traditional Nubian lyre, still in use in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. It consists of a body having instead of the traditional tortoise-shell back, a shallow, round bowl of wood, covered with a soundboard of sheepskin, in which are two small round sound-holes. The arms, set through the soundboard at points distant about the third of the diameter from the circumference, have the familiar fan shape. Five gut strings, knotted round the bar and raised from the soundboard by means of a bridge tailpiece similar to that in use on the modern guitar, are plucked by means of a plectrum by the right hand for the melody, while the left hand sometimes twangs some of the strings as a soft drone accompaniment. File:Frederick Goodall, The Kissar Player.jpg, Egypt, 1859. ''The Kissar Player'',painting by Frederick Goodall File:النوبي الموسيقي.jpg, Man playing kissar in Egypt The kissar has been a popul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endongo
The ''endongo'' is a musical instrument, considered the List of national instruments (music), national instrument of the Baganda people of Uganda. It is a member of a family of lyres which can be found, with variations, in many areas throughout East Africa. The endongo is specifically a Buganda, Kiganda bowl lyre, with the face of the bowl covered with the skin of either a monitor lizard or ant lizard. The endongo is found within the interlacustrine area of Uganda, which are “the kingdom-states around the northern, western, and southern shores of Lake Victoria and the area between Lake Victoria and the chain of lakes: Lake Albert (Africa), Lake Albert, Lake Edward, Lake Kivu and Lake Tanganyika”. The bowl lyre present in Uganda is played by two particular tribes, the Basoga, who name the instrument ''entongoli'', and the Baganda, who call it the ''endongo''. The bowl lyre can be heard at school festivals, and at weddings when playing music to lead a wedding dance. It is mainly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Begena
The begena, () is a ten-stringed box-lyre instrument from Ethiopia, and is the sole melodic instrument devoted only to the ''zema'', the spiritual part of Ethiopian music. Etymology and origin The instrument's name is derived from ''bägänä'', "to buzz, pluck, play;" it is etymologically related to the Hebrew (''nagan''), "touch/play stringed instrument" Oral tradition identifies the instrument with the ''kinnor'' of the Israelites played by David to soothe King Saul's nerves and heal him of insomnia, and later brought to Africa by Menelik I. Its actual origin remains in doubt, though local manuscripts depict the instrument at the beginning of the 15th century AD. Instrument Known as the instrument of noblemen, monks and the upper class it is used to perform by both men and women. The begena was used primarily as an accompaniment during meditation and prayer. It is played in the framework of religious occasions. During Lent, the instrument is often heard on the radio a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phorminx
:''Phorminx is also a genus of cylindrical bark beetles.'' The ''phorminx'' () was one of the oldest of the Ancient Greek stringed musical instruments, in the yoke lutes family, intermediate between the lyre and the kithara. It consisted of two to seven strings, richly decorated arms and a crescent-shaped sound box. It most probably originated from Mesopotamia. While it seems to have been common in Homer's day accompanying the rhapsodes, it was supplanted in historical times by the seven-stringed kithara. Nevertheless, the term "''phorminx''" continued to be used as an archaism in poetry. The term "''phorminx''" is also sometimes used in both ancient and modern writing to refer to all four instruments of the lyre family collectively: *Barbitos *Kithara *Lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of ins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
