A mandolin is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of eight strings. A variety of string types are used, with steel strings being the most common and usually the least expensive. The courses are typically tuned in an interval of perfect fifths, with the same tuning as a violin. Also, like the violin, it is the soprano member of a family that includes the mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello and mandobass.
The lyre is a stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the 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 music of Kenya is very diverse, with multiple types of folk music based on the variety over 50 regional languages.
The shamisen, also known as sangen or samisen (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument sanxian. It is played with a plectrum called a bachi.
The morin khuur, also known as the horsehead fiddle, is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. It is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered a symbol of the nation of Mongolia. The morin khuur is one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity identified by UNESCO.
The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic.
Benga is a genre of Kenyan popular music. It evolved between the late 1940s and late 1960s, in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi. In the 1940s, the African Broadcasting Service in Nairobi aired a steady stream of soukous, South African kwela, Congolese finger-style guitar and various kinds of Cuban dance music that heavily influenced emergence of benga. There were also popular folk songs of Tanzania and Kenya's Luo peoples that formed the base on benga creation.
The ektara is a one-stringed musical instrument used in the traditional music of the Indian subcontinent, and used in modern-day music of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.
A setar is a stringed instrument, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the tanbur family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than two and a half octaves. Originally a three stringed instrument, a fourth string was added by Mushtaq Ali Shah by the mid 19th century. It is played with the index finger of the right hand.
The Luo of Kenya and Tanzania are a Nilotic ethnic group native to western Kenya and the Mara Region of northern Tanzania in East Africa. The Luo are the fourth-largest ethnic group (10.65%) in Kenya, after the Kikuyu (17.13%), the Luhya (14.35%) and the Kalenjin (13.37%). The Tanzanian Luo population was estimated at 1.1 million in 2001 and 3.4 million in 2020. They are part of a larger group of related Luo peoples who inhabit an area ranging from South Sudan, southwestern Ethiopia, northern and eastern Uganda, southwestern Kenya, and northern Tanzania.
Job Seda, better known as Ayub Ogada, was a Kenyan singer. He was a singer favoring the nyatiti as his characteristic instrument. His music is known to have a natural feel to it, having songs of birds, the calls of animals and the sounds of children playing in the background.
The sintir, also known as the guembri (الكمبري), gimbri, hejhouj in Hausa language, is a three stringed skin-covered bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people of Morocco. It is approximately the size of a guitar, with a body carved from a log and covered on the playing side with camel skin. The camel skin has the same acoustic function as the membrane on a banjo. The neck is a simple stick with one short and two long goat strings that produce a percussive sound similar to a pizzicato cello or double bass.
In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the use of music is not limited to entertainment: it serves a purpose to the local community and helps in the conduct of daily routines. Traditional African music supplies appropriate music and dance for work and for religious ceremonies of birth, naming, rites of passage, marriage and funerals. The beats and sounds of the drum are used in communication as well as in cultural expression.
The tanbūra or "Kissar" is a bowl lyre of East Africa and the Middle East. Tanbūra traces its etymology to the Persian tanbur via the Arabic tunbur, though this term refers to long-necked lutes. The instrument probably originated in Upper Egypt and the Sudan in Nubia and is used in the Fann At-Tanbura in the Persian Gulf Arab States. It also plays an important role in zār rituals.
Ohangla is a traditional dance among the Luo community. It was used to celebrate weddings and also in funeral ceremony as part of Tero Buru. Ohangla consists of more than 8 drums hit by a stick and a cylindrical shoulder slung drum played normally to the accompaniment of flute, Nyatiti or kinanda. Tony Nyadundo, Prince Indah, Emma Jalamo, Otieno Aloka, Freddy Jakadongo, Osogo Winyo and Onyi Papa Jey are among the best known Ohangla musicians.The original Ohangla has very fast tempo nature and vulgar messages convey in the music. Local elders used to ban ohangla music in the early 1980s because the music was meant for adults, "the songs can only be interpreted by very intelligent or mature people, but not children or teenagers" says Juma Oketch, an ohangla band vocalist based in Nairobi.
The orutu is a one-stringed vertical fiddle originated in the pre-colonial societies of Western Kenya, especially amongst the Luo community. In Luhya it's known as Ishiriri. The Luo had a strong tradition of stringed instruments and was famous for their skills with harps and lyres. When played with a bow, the orutu creates different notes determined by finger pressure against the central stick.
The cuatro of Venezuela has four single nylon strings, tuned (ad'f#'b). It is similar in shape and tuning to the ukulele, but their character and playing technique are vastly different. It is tuned in a similar fashion to the traditional D tuning of the ukulele, but the A and B are an octave lower. Consequently, the same fingering can be used to shape the chords, but it produces a different inversion of each chord. A cuatro player is called a cuatrista.
Eriko Mukoyama, known as Anyango, is a female nyatiti player.
The Kemençe of the Black Sea is a Greek and Turkish traditional musical instrument. It belongs to the category of stringed bowed musical instruments. It has three strings, usually tuned to perfect fourths, usually tuned B-E-A. It is the pre-eminent musical folk instrument of the Greeks of Pontus. It seems to have been invented during the Byzantine years, between the 11th and 12th centuries. The instrument is made of different types of wood.
The Indian santoor instrument is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer, and a variation of the Iranian santur. The instrument is generally made of walnut and has 25 bridges. Each bridge has 4 strings, making for a total of 100 strings. It is a traditional instrument in Jammu and Kashmir, and dates back to ancient times. It was called Shatha Tantri Veena in ancient Sanskrit texts.
