Inanga player Torobeka Joseph from Burundi. Trough zither type A, using Wegner's classification.
String instrument
Hornbostel–Sachs classification
315.1 (without resonator) or 315.2 (with resonator)[1] (Trough zithers. Instruments in which strings are stretched across the mouth of a trough.)
Developed
Modern examples come from Africa, especially the Great Lakes Region of East Africa.
Related instruments
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Trough zithers are 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] A type of zither, the instruments may be quiet, depending upon the shape of the bowl or string-holder. Sound is often amplified with the addition of a gourd resonator.[2] Instruments have been classed into five different types, based on shape.
The resonator is most commonly a gourd, but tin cans have also been used.
An instrument of East and Central Africa, mainly Rwanda and Burundi. Parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania as well, near the borders with Rwanda and Burundi.[2]
Unidentified trough zither, Democratic Republic of Congo, late 19th century. 13 x 6 in. (33 x 15.2 cm). Type E.
Center: six-string bowl zither (ligombo) of type B from the Nyamwezi in Central Tanzania. Missing gourd resonator.
Enganga. Type A six-string zither tied to a calabash. Shi language group around Bukavu in eastern Congo. Royal Museum for Central Africa
South Sudan or Northern Uganda. Acholi people, trough zither (center back), arched harp (left), unnamed flute (right). Circa 1880. The zither is a nanga or possibly kinanda.
^von Hornbostel, Erich M.; Sachs, Curt (March 1961). "Classification of Musical Instruments: Translated from the Original German by Anthony Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann". The Galpin Society Journal. 14: 3–29. doi:10.2307/842168. JSTOR 842168.
^ abcStanley Sadie, ed. (1984). "Trough zither". The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. London: MacMillan Press Limited. pp. 638–639. ISBN 0-943818-05-2. ...akatuba k'abakuru; enanga; gawu-khas; ikivuvu; inanga; indimbagazo; langa; lulanga; malimba; nanga...segankuru; sekatari; sekgobogobo; tshidzholo...
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Global Information
Unidentified trough zither, Democratic Republic of Congo, late 19th century. 13 x 6 in. (33 x 15.2 cm). Type E.
Center: six-string bowl zither (ligombo) of type B from the Nyamwezi in Central Tanzania. Missing gourd resonator.
Enganga. Type A six-string zither tied to a calabash. Shi language group around Bukavu in eastern Congo. Royal Museum for Central Africa
South Sudan or Northern Uganda. Acholi people, trough zither (center back), arched harp (left), unnamed flute (right). Circa 1880. The zither is a nanga or possibly kinanda.
