Three musical instruments assumed to be from the Harrison collection

By Bridget Cousins

I am a musician, and I play the Celtic harp so I have a particular interest in plucked stringed instruments. I am not an expert in any way but in my role of citizen researcher I looked at three instruments held in the Scarborough collection with the intention of identifying what they might be and finding out what I could about them.

One is a large oval horned basin, measuring 56cm x 32cm at the widest point of the ‘horns’ and 8cm deep. At the upper and lower edges deep grooves have been cut which are obviously meant to hold strings of some kind (see photos). This is clearly a type of bowl lyre, though without the modern addition of tuning pegs.

An internet search for images of similar objects eventually led to identifying this as a type of ‘trough zither’ or inanga, described by the British Museum as “musical instrument in the shape of an oblong wooden dish hollowed from the solid, the ends curving very slightly upwards.” [1] They have been defined as ‘a group of African stringed instruments or chordophones whose members resemble wooden bowls, pans, platters, or shallow gutters with strings stretched across the opening.’ [2] Although the instrument is mainly used in East and Central Africa it is also found in the Congo, where it is called ‘ikivuvu’. It is used to play a rhythm to accompany a singer. The strings are made of animal or plant material; one long string is wound around the notches on the edge of the bowl and then individual strings are tuned by the insertion of small wooden pegs. The instrument is played usually with the fingers but sometimes with a stiff piece of grass used as a plectrum.

This instrument has been associated with the cult of Bihenga/Nyabingi ; a princess who according to legend survived a massacre of her family by magic and who can be summoned by a mediator in a trance (the Mugirwa) to help with sickness or other problems [3].

Here's a link to a modern trough zither [4] player recorded in Uganda in 1994.

The other two instruments are rectangular boards, hand carved to a narrow D shape profile. One measures 55cm x 12 cm, the other 50cm x 14cm.  Each has a ‘handle’ at one end with a hole in it. Each board is strung with a single string of plant or animal material threaded through seven holes, giving seven strings . One string has been tightened by the insertion of a small wooden peg. Each instrument has a ‘bridge’ at each end over which the strings are stretched.

These are ‘board zithers’ made from a hollowed-out board over which a number of strings are attached. The volume of these instruments is increased by inserting the ‘handle’ in a hollow gourd, which then creates a sound-box. The board zither is used to create complex rhythms that are not always accompanied by song.

Here [5] is a recording from the Smithsonian collection of the board zither, played by people from the Ituri rainforest. This neatly complements the recordings of the Ituri people singing and talking made by Harrison in 1905 and gives a tiny glimpse into their musical culture.

About the author

Bridget Cousins - lives in Scarborough and is a musician playing Celtic harp as one half of Folk acoustic duo The Blow-ins . She’s also a choir leader specialising in Singing for Health and teaches songs from around the world to a range of choral groups. She was once an archaeologist and has an enduring interest in local history.

References

[1] British Museum

[2] Tanzanian zither

[3] The Nyabingi Order

[4] Trough zither player

[5] Ituri zither playing