| Valiha |
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Harp from Madagascar |
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A dry bamboo-cane, metal strings (bowden or wire) wound around nails driven into the cane, movable tuning pads - that's it: Valiha - the Harp of Madagaskar. Nice Cistern-like sound. Awful to tune with little pieces of bamboo. Wish I could play like this guy. There is another harp-like muscial instrument in Madagascar call Marovany, a box of plywood, bowden strings on both sides. Also nice, but I could not yet get hold of one. Enjoy this and look for more. Generally speaking, the African approach to use bi-directional stringing (like Valiha, Kora and other musical instruments, instead of (European) mono-directional (like piano, harp etc.) is something to follow up. Perhaps we will experience a Grand Piano with two (alternating tuned) keyboards (right and left) in the future.... or a double-sided guitar - which would need four hands to play. Well, this is also possible. |
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