african harps

[Jacky said to Gerry:]

> Also last year I got to see a man and woman from Uganda play
> two harp-
> like instruments (which I'm sad to say I don't reacll the
> names of)
> in a very polyrhythmic style. The beauty of their song and
> playing
> was of exquisite beauty.

Jacky & Gerry,

There is no region with a greater variety of harps than
Africa. They are played in more than fifty separate
cultures, each with its own separate musical style.

Jacky, if you could describe the harps you saw I might
be able to tell you their names.

Here are some possibilities:

1) ardin, Mauritania
2) ennagna, Uganda

-- both these are 'spoon in a cup' designs. A long
stick coming into a bowl with a skin across it. A cross
bar attaches to the long stick and goes across the
bowl. Looks a bit like a sailboat, with the strings as
the sail coming down from the long stick (neck or mast
I suppose) and attacking to the short cross stick (the
boom! :-) ). Tuning pegs on the mast.

3) simbingo, Gambia - spike harp design

-- think banjo in terms of a hoop with a skin and a
neck. But the neck is a bit curved and the strings
attack to a vertical string holder that comes sticking
straight out of the neck through the center of the skin
of the hoop.

I think its probably #2 above you saw; if not
describe and I'll have more possibilities; I can
further describe:

4) tang, Sierra Leone, shiplike design
5) kori, Côte d'Ivoire
6) kora, Gambia
7) kinde, Lake Chad Area - cork in a bottle design
8) ngombi, Gabon & Central African Republic - shelf
design
9) seperewa, Ghana

---

We recently mentioned the aspects of spiritual
experience that musical instruments represent.
No more active examples can be found than in Africa.
Harps are used to communicate with the gods, to
represent aspects of the gods personalities, and
to represent aspects of metaphysical experience.

- Jeff

--- In MakeMicroMusic@y..., "X. J. Scott" <xjscott@e...> wrote:
> 1) ardin, Mauritania
> 2) ennagna, Uganda
>
> -- both these are 'spoon in a cup' designs. A long
> stick coming into a bowl with a skin across it. A cross
> bar attaches to the long stick and goes across the
> bowl. Looks a bit like a sailboat, with the strings as
> the sail coming down from the long stick (neck or mast
> I suppose) and attacking to the short cross stick (the
> boom! :-) ). Tuning pegs on the mast.

Jeff,

The above description is what I saw! They were small and played while
sitting with the instrument on the lap.

> ---
>
> We recently mentioned the aspects of spiritual
> experience that musical instruments represent.
> No more active examples can be found than in Africa.
> Harps are used to communicate with the gods, to
> represent aspects of the gods personalities, and
> to represent aspects of metaphysical experience.

Very good points. Have you ever tried to make a harp? I'd like to try
my hand at it actually. A little known fact about your Brother here,
is that I've got some pretty good carpentry skills, and access to the
whole range of woodworking tools it would take to make it happen.

I want to try to grow some gourds this year too for this purpose.

J:L