Musical instruments from around the world

Photo Credits: PG3. LEAD_3

Music is an omnipresent entity in our lives spread across time and space. It is present in every culture, in past or present including the most isolated tribes in the farthest corners of the world. Music is influenced by varied factors like its location, culture, climate, access to technology, social standings etc. The emotions and ideas that music expresses for a particular culture vastly depend on the situations in which music is played and listened to. Although many musical instruments resemble the popular genres yet each musical instrument has its own place and significance in its respective culture or era.

Didgeridoo

A trumpet without finger-holes traditionally made from a trunk or thick branch of a tree. The didgeridoo was born in the Northern Territory of Australia, also the national instrument of Australia. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or drone pipe because of its droning sound. The didgeridoo has become quite popular in the past few years. A study found that learning and practicing the didgeridoo helped reduce snoring by strengthening muscles in the upper airway and you could seriously consider gifting it to someone annoying.

Alpine zither

Any stringed musical instrument whose strings are the same length as its soundboard is called a zither. The Alpine Scheitholt, have narrow rectangular sound boxes and may have from 29 to 38 strings, with 34 or 35 being most typical. It is Germany's national instrument. According to zither players, it is the perfect musical instrument ever designed; versatile and expressive, with a range nearly as great as the piano.

Valiha

The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar made from a species of local bamboo. Although known as the national instrument of Madagascar, the Valiha actually originated in Indonesia. The rich cultural interaction, probably through the Indian Ocean by merchants has influenced Asian traditions in Africa for centuries. The valiha generally has 21-24 strings. Historically these were formed of strips of the bamboo body, but in the modern day, the strings are often made of unwound bicycle brake cable or standard guitar or piano strings.

Modern lyre

As an attribute of Apollo, the god of prophecy and music, the lyre to the ancient Greeks symbolized wisdom and moderation. Greek lyres fell into two types, the lyra and kithara. Kithara or cithara from which the modern word ‘guitar’ is derived. The lyre has been an important instrument since ancient times, in Persia, Egypt, Greece, and Italy. The modern lyre was first created in the 1920's, by Edmund Pracht and Lothar Gartner. Lyres are used for all kinds of music including contemporary, music pedagogy, music therapy, composition, etc.

Theremin

The theremin is an untouchable instrument. Quite literally, the not-just-for-sci-fi electronic instrument is actually controlled without physical contact by the thereminist. Recently, made famous by Sheldon Cooper of The Big Bang Theory by calling it his “favorite" musical instrument”. An early electronic musical instrument, it is named after the Westernised name of its Russian inventor, Léon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928. The thereminist stands in front of the instrument and moves his or her hands in the proximity of two metal antennas, the distance from one antenna determines frequency or pitch and the distance from the other controls amplitude.

Handpan

The handpan or “hang” is a UFO look-alike convex steel drum played with the hands and tuned with multiple notes. Hang was invented in 2001 by a little company in Switzerland called PanArt. Inspired by the Trinidad steel drum by flipping a custom hand-hammered metal pan from a concave to a convex position. The hang instantly became popular for their beautiful and mysterious tone and unique scales. The desire for the Hang began to grow rapidly. However, you can’t just buy a hang since the makers have stopped production in 2013 in order to preserve the mystique, value, and elusiveness of the instrument. Instrument makers in Europe and the United States began to make their own version of the Hang beginning in 2007 but due to legality, the name “Hang” is limited only to instruments created by PanArt. Thus, the name “handpan” was born, which now refers to any type of “Hang” type steel pan created by a manufacturer other than PanArt.

Wadaiko

There are Japanese percussion instruments that sound like rumbling thunder and lend themselves to powerful and dramatic stage performances, filling listeners with excitement. Wadaiko, or taiko for short, are traditional Japanese drums. They are used to perform at festivals and other events, infusing them with energy and listeners with excitement. Today, Japanese taiko performances with other instruments and spanning various genres, such as classic and jazz music, are thriving as the instrument finds fans across the world.