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Human Migration and African Harps
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 March 2019
Extract
According to a widely used definition a harp is “an instrument in which the plane of the strings lies at right angles to the sound-table, and a line joining the lower ends of the strings would point towards the neck.” In Africa this definition embraces many varieties of harps, and the variations in form may indicate different human migrations.
Perhaps the most important structural feature by which the various types are differentiated is the assembly of neck, resonator, and string holder. In the manufacture of harps many practical problems centre on this point and this is the basis of my classification of African material. At the same time I shall in this paper disregard many other criteria, such as the shapes and proportions of components, and the tuning pegs, etc. The net result is that it is possible to group present-day harps in Africa into three types.
- Type
- The Migration of Musical Instruments
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- Copyright © International Council for Traditional Music 1964
References
Notes
1. Hornbostel, E. V. and Sachs, C., “Classification of Musical Instruments,” translated from the original German by Baines, A. and Wachsmann, K. P., Galpin Society Journal, 14, 1961, p. 23.Google Scholar
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3. See Fig. 22, op. cit.
4. See Fig. 20, op. cit.
5. See Fig. 21, op. cit.
6. See Fig. 24, op. cit.
7. The occurrences are not recorded in the map in full detail. Instruments of migrating, seasonal workers in Eritrea, who are Sudanese, are thus not indicated. Detail for the distribution in the Congo is available in J. S. Laurenty, Les Cordophones du Congo-Beige et du Ruanda-Urundi, 1960, carte No. 4.
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15. I acknowledge gratefully the help given by Dr. D. M. Dixon who kindly discussed and checked with me the statements made in this paper on matters of Egyptology and on Meriotic History.
16. Praetorius, M., Syntagma Musicum, 1618 Google Scholar, Plate xxxi, Fig. 2.
17. Cf. J. S. Laurenty, op. cit., Plate 3.
18. K. P. Wachsmann, “Musical Instruments in Kiganda Tradition and their Place in the East African Scene,” Essays of the Symposium on Music and History in Africa and Asia. (In preparation.)
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20. Prominent string holders in harps occur also in two places in the Cameroon-Nigerian border region.
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