Balalaika

A typical balalaika
String instrument
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	321.321 (Composite chordophone)
Developed	Late 18th to early 19th centuries

The balalaika (Russian: балала́йка, pronounced [bəlɐˈlajkə]) is a stringed musical instrument popular in Russia, with a characteristic triangular body and three strings.
The balalaika family of instruments includes instruments of various sizes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass balalaika, and contrabass balalaika. All have three-sided bodies, spruce or fir tops, backs made of 3-9 wooden sections (usually maple), and typically strung with three strings.
The prima balalaika is played with the fingers, the secunda and alto either with the fingers or a plectrum, depending on the music being played, and the bass and contrabass (equipped with extension legs that rest on the floor) are played with leather plectrums.

Etymology

The earliest mention of the term balalaika dates back to an AD 1688 Russian document. The term "balabaika" was widely used in Ukrainian language documents^[specify] from 1717-1732. According to one theory^[specify], it is thought that the term was borrowed into Russian where, in literary language, it first appeared in a poem by V. Maikov "Elysei" in 1771.

Types

A contrabass Balalaika

The modern balalaika is found in the following sizes:

• piccolo (rare)
• prima
• secunda
• alto
• bass
• contrabass

The most common solo instrument is the prima, which is tuned E-E-A (the two lower strings being tuned to the same pitch). Sometimes the balalaika is tuned "guitar style" by folk musicians to G-B-D (mimicking the three highest strings of the Russian guitar), making it easier to play for Russian guitar players, although classically trained balalaika purists avoid this tuning. It can also be tuned to E-A-D, like its cousin, the domra, to make it easier for those trained on the domra to play the instrument, and still have a balalaika sound. The folk (pre-Andreev) tuning D-F#-A was very popular, making it easier to play certain riffs.
Factory-made six-string prima balalaikas with three sets of double courses are also common and popular, particularly in Ukraine. These instruments have three double courses similar to the stringing of the mandolin and often use a "guitar" tuning. Four string alto balalaikas are also encountered and are used in the orchestra of the Piatnistky Folk Choir.
The piccolo, prima, and secunda balalaikas were originally strung with gut with the thinnest melody string made of stainless steel. Today, nylon strings are usually used in place of gut.

Technique

An important part of balalaika technique is the use of the left thumb to fret notes on the lower string, particularly on the prima, where it is used to form chords. The side of the index finger of the right hand is used to sound notes on the prima, while a plectrum is used on the larger sizes. One can play the prima with a plectrum, but it is considered rather heterodox to do so.
Due to the large size of the contrabass's strings, it is not uncommon to see player using plectrums made from a leather shoe or boot heel. The bass and contrabass balalaika rest on the ground on a wooden or metal pin drilled into one of its corners.

History

The pre-Andreyev period

Early representations of the balalaika show it with anywhere from two to six strings, which resembles certain Central Asian instruments. Similarly, frets on earlier balalaikas were made of animal gut and tied to the neck so that they could be moved around by the player at will (as is the case with the modern saz, which allows for the microtonal playing distinctive to Turkish and Central Asian music).
The term first appeared in the Ukrainian documents in the 18th century in documents from 1717-1732. It is thought that the term was borrowed into Russian where it first appeared a poem by V. Maikov "Elysei" in 1771. In the 19th century the balalaika evolved into a triangular instrument with a neck substantially shorter than its Asian counterparts. It was popular as a village instrument for centuries, particularly with the skomorokhs, sort of free-lance musical jesters whose tunes ridiculed the Tsar, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian society in general.
A popular notion is that the three sides and the strings of the balalaika are supposed to represent the Holy Trinity.^{[citation needed]} This idea, while whimsical, is quite difficult to reconcile when one is confronted with the fact that at various times in Russian history, the playing of the balalaika was banned because of its use by the skomorokhi, who were generally highly irritating to both Church and State. Musical instruments are not allowed in Russian Orthodox liturgy. A likelier reason for the triangular shape is given by the writer and historian Nikolai Gogol in his unfinished novel Dead Souls. He states that a balalaika was made by peasants out of a pumpkin. If you quarter a pumpkin, you are left with a balalaika shape.^{[improper synthesis?]}

The Andreyev period

In the 1880s Vasily Vasilievich Andreyev, at that time a professional violinist in the music salons of St Petersburg, developed what became the standardized balalaika, with the assistance of violin maker V. Ivanov. The instrument began to be used in his concert performances. A few years later, St. Petersburg craftsman Paserbsky further refined the instruments by adding a fully chromatic set of frets and also a number of balalaikas in orchestral sizes with the tunings now found in modern instruments. Andreyev patented the design and arranged numerous traditional Russian folk melodies for the orchestra. He also composed a body of concert pieces for the instrument.

Balalaika orchestra

A souvenir balalaika

The end result of Andreyev's labours was the establishment of an orchestral folk tradition in Tsarist Russia, which later grew into a movement within the Soviet Union. The balalaika orchestra in its full form—balalaikas, domras, gusli, bayan, kugiklas, Vladimir Shepherd's Horns, garmoshkas and several types of percussion instruments -- has a distinctive sound: strangely familiar to the ear, yet decidedly not entirely Western European.
With the establishment of the Soviet system and the entrenchment of a Proletarian cultural direction - the culture of the working classes, which included that of village labourers was actively supported by the Soviet establishment. The concept of the balalaika orchestra was adopted wholeheartedly by the Soviet government as something distinctively proletarian (that is, from the working classes) and was also deemed progressive. Significant amounts of energy and time were devoted to support and foster formal study of the balalaika, from which highly skilled ensemble groups such as the Osipov State Balalaika Orchestra emerged. Balalaika virtuosi such as Boris Feoktistov and Pavel Necheporenko became stars both inside and outside the Soviet Union. The movement was so powerful that even the renowned Red Army Choir which initially used a normal symphonic orchestra, changed its instrumentation replacing violins, violas and violoncellos with orchestral balalaikas and domras.

Use of the name

The Yiddish folk song Tumbalalaika mentions the instrument.
In 1989 Kramer Guitars released an "Electric Balalaika": the Kramer Gorky Park. This was just before the fall of the Berlin wall and the Soviet Union. It was actually just an electric guitar with a triangular shape that was based on the original instrument.
The "Wind of Change (song)" by the Scorpions uses the instrument in its lyrics.
The MiG-21 is nicknamed Balalaika because of the shape of its wings.
The Beatles' 1968 track "Back in the U.S.S.R" references the instrument in its final verse ('Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out/Come and keep your comrade warm').
Kusumi Koharu performed a song and dance titled "Balalaika" which has also been flawlessly mirrored in the Hatsune Miku phenomenon.
One of the unofficial slogans of the Jewish Defense League was 'Bombs for balalaikas'^{[citation needed]} In response to a terror attack by the JDL, Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko composed a poem with the same title.
Firewater's album Get Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire 7th track is named "Balalaika" but does not appear to contain one.
In the 2006 anime Black Lagoon, the nickname of the local Russian mob boss is "Balalaika."
The rock band from Pasadena, Ozma plays a Balalaika on the song Flight Of Yuri Gagarin, off of their partially Russian themed album, "Double Donkey Disc." The album has a mirrored picture of a donkey playing the Balalaika on the front cover.
Bob Clampett's 1943 cartoon Book Revue features Daffy Duck dressed as Danny Kaye singing in a Russian accent. He remembers his "native willage", with people "...sitting on their balalaikas playing their samovars", a misuse of both words.

The balalaika outside of Russia

Interest in Russian folk instruments has grown outside of Russia. Orchestras of Russian folk instruments exist in many countries of western Europe, Scandinavia, USA, Canada, Australia and Japan. Some of the groups include ethnic Russians, however in recent times the growth in interest in the Balalaika by non-ethnic Russians has been considerable.
Interests in the balalaika first started after Andreyev's tour of North America in the early 20th century. A number of Andreyev's students also toured the west in 1909-12. In 1957 the Scandinavian Balalaika Association was formed. In 1977 a similar organization was formed in the USA.
Oleg Bernov of the Russian-American rock band the Red Elvises plays a red electrified contrabass balalaika during the band's North American tours.
Australian band, VulgarGrad, fronted by actor Jacek Koman, which plays songs of the Russian criminal underground, uses a contrabass balalaika.
Norwegian all-girl pop band Katzenjammer uses two contrabass balalaikas, both of which have cat faces painted on the front. They are named Børge and Akerø.
Ian Anderson plays balalaika on two songs from the 1969 Jethro Tull album Stand Up: "Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square" and "Fat Man".
Balalaikas of all sizes are prominently displayed in the official video for Basement Jaxx's 2006 single "Take Me Back To Yor Place".
The balalaika is mentioned in both The Beatles' song "Back in the U.S.S.R." and the Scorpions' song "Wind of Change".

References

1. ^ "The Washington Balalaika Society". www.balalaika.org.
2. ^ Balalaika - article by Dmitry Belinskiy from the newspaper Krymskaya Pravda. Balalaika music, video
3. ^ The Stringed Instrument Database
4. ^ Lyrics to 'Back in the U.S.S.R' by The Beatles Krymskaya Pravda. Balalaika music, video

• Blok, V. - Orkestr russkikh narodnykh instrumentov - Moscow, 1986
• Imkhatsky, M. - V. V. Andreyev - Materialy i dokumenty - Moscow, 1986
• Imkhatsky, M. - U istokov russkoj narodnoj orkestrovoj kultury - Moscow 1987
• Imkhatsky, M. - Istoriya ispolnitelstva na russkikh narodnykh instrumentakh - Moscow 2002
• Peresada, A. - Balalaika - Moscow, 1990
• Poponov, V. - Orkestr khora imeni Piatnitskogo - Moscow, 1979
• Poponov, V. - Russkaya narodnaya instrumentalnaya muzyka - Moscow, 1984
• Vertkov, K. - Russkie narodnye muzykalnye instrumenty - Muzyka, Leningrad, 1975

Balafon

A fixed-key balafon, showing resonators with membrane holes.
Other names	bala, balaphone, Balani, Gyil, Balangi
Classification	West African wooden Percussion idiophone with up to 21 keys
Related instruments
marimba, xylophone
Musicians
N'Faly Kouyate
Builders
Claude Luisier

The balafon (bala, balaphone) is a resonated frame, wooden keyed percussion idiophone of West Africa; part of the idiophone family of tuned percussion instruments that includes the xylophone, marimba, glockenspiel, and the vibraphone. Sound is produced by striking the tuned keys with two padded sticks.

The instrument

Believed to have been developed independently of the Southern African and South American instruments now called the marimba, oral histories of the balafon date it to at least the rise of the Mali Empire in the 12th century CE. Balafon is a Manding name, but variations exist across West Africa, including the Balangi in Sierra Leone and the Gyil of the Dagara, Lobi and Gurunsi from Ghana, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire. similar instruments are played in parts of Central Africa, with the ancient Kingdom of Kongo denoting the instrument as palaku.

Types

Balafon: gum-rubber mallets

A balafon can be either fixed-key (where the keys are strung over a fixed frame, usually with calabash resonators underneath) or free-key (where the keys are placed independently on any padded surface). The balafon usually has 17-21 keys, tuned to a tetratonic, pentatonic or heptatonic scale, depending on the culture of the musician.
The balafon is generally capable of producing 18 to 21 notes, though some are built to produce many fewer notes (16, 12, 8 or even 6 and 7). Balafon keys are traditionally made from béné wood, dried slowly over a low flame, and then tuned by shaving off bits of wood from the underside of the keys. Wood is taken off the middle to flatten the key or the end to sharpen it.

Fixed-key variations

In a fixed-key balafon, the keys are suspended by leather straps just above a wooden frame, under which are hung graduated-size calabash gourd resonators. A small hole in each gourd is covered with a membrane traditionally of thin spider's-egg sac filaments (nowadays more usually of cigarette paper or thin plastic film) to produce the characteristic nasal-buzz timbre of the instrument, which is usually played with two gum-rubber-wound mallets while seated on a low stool (or while standing using a shoulder or waist sling hooked to its frame).

Performance variations

As the balafon cultures vary across West Africa, so does the approach to the instrument itself. In many areas the balafon is played alone in a ritual context, in others as part of an ensemble. In Guinea and Mali, the balafon is often part of an ensemble of three, pitched low, medium and high. In Cameroon, six balafon of varying size perform together in an orchestra, called a komenchang. An Igbo variation exists with only one large tuned key for each player. And while in most cases a single player hits multiple keys with two mallets, some traditions place two or more players at each keyboard.
Often balafon players will wear belled bracelets on each wrist, accentuating the sound of the keys.

Modern balafon styles

Children from Burkina Faso performing in Warsaw, Poland during the 5th Cross Culture Festival, September 2009

The balafon has seen a resurgence since the 1980s in the growth of African Roots Music and World Music. Most famous of these exponents is the Rail Band, led by Salif Keita. Even when not still played, its distinctive sound and traditional style has been exported to western instruments. Maninka from eastern Guinea play a type of guitar music that adapts balafon playing style to the imported instrument.

Cameroon

Main article: Music of Cameroon#Modern Cameroonian music

During the 1950s, bars sprang up across Cameroon's capital to accommodate an influx of new inhabitants, and soon became a symbol for Cameroonian identity in the face of colonialism. Balafon orchestras, consisting of 3-5 balafons and various percussion instruments became common in these bars. Some of these orchestras, such as Richard Band de Zoetele, became quite popular in spite of scorn from the European elite.
The middle of the 20th century saw the popularization of a native folk music called bikutsi. Bikutsi is based on a war rhythm played with various rattles, drums and balafon. Sung by women, bikutsi featured sexually explicit lyrics and songs about everyday problems. In a popularized form, bikutsi gained mainstream success in the 1950s. Anne-Marie Nzie was perhaps the most important of the early innovators The next bikutsi performer of legendary stature was Messi Me Nkonda Martin and his band, Los Camaroes, who added electric guitars and other new elements.
Balafon orchestras had remained popular throughout the 50s in Yaoundé's bar scene, but the audience demanded modernity and the popular style at the time was unable to cope. Messi Martin was a Cameroonian guitarist who had been inspired to learn the instrument by listening to Spanish language-broadcasts from neighboring Equatorial Guinea, as well as Cuban and Zairean rumba. Messi changed the electric guitar by linking the strings together with pieces of paper, thus giving the instrument a damper tone that emitted a "thudding" sound similar to the balafon.

History and culture

A young balafon player, Mali

The Susu and Malinké people of Guinea are closely identified with the balafon, as are the other Manding peoples of Mali, Senegal, and The Gambia. Cameroon, Chad, and even the nations of the Congo Basin have a long balafon traditions.

Etymology

In the Malinké language Balafon is a compound of two words: Balan is the name of the instrument and fô is the verb to play. Balafon therefore is really the act of playing the Bala.
Bala still is used as the name of a large bass balafon in the region of Kolokani and Bobo Dioulasso. These Bala have especially long keys and huge calabashes for amplification. Balani is then used as the name of the high pitched, small balafon with small calabashes and short (3 to 4 cm long) keys. The Balani is carried with a strap and usually has 21 keys, while the number of keys on a Bala vary with region.

Griot balafonists of Guinea

The balafon, kora (lute-harp), and the ngoni (the ancestor of the banjo) are the three instruments most associated with griot bardic traditions of West Africa. Each is more closely associated with specific areas, communities, and traditions, though all are played together in ensembles throughout the region. Guinea has been the historic heartland of solo balafon. As griot culture is a hereditary caste, the Kouyaté family has been called the keepers of the balafon, and twentieth century members of this family have helped introduce it throughout the world.

Sacred ritual usage

In some cultures the balafon was (and in some still is) a sacred instrument, playable only by trained religious caste members and only at ritual events such as festivals, royal, funerial, or marriage celebrations. Here the balafon is kept in a temple storehouse, and can only be removed and played after undergoing purification rites. Specific instruments may be built to be only played for specific rituals and repertoires. Young adepts are trained not on the sacred instrument, but on free-key pit balafons.

The Sosso Bala

The Sosso Bala is a balafon, currently kept in the town of Niagassola, Guinea that is reputed to be the original balafon, constructed over 800 years ago. The Epic of Sundiata, a story of the formation of the Mali Empire, tells that a griot named Bala Faséké Kouyate convinced Sosso king Sumanguru Kante to employ him after sneaking into Sumanguru's palace and playing the sacred instrument. Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire overthrew Sumanguru, seized the balafon, and made the griot Faséké its guardian. This honor is said to have passed down through his family, the Kouyatés, and conveys upon them mastership of the balafon to this day.
Regardless of the truth of this story, the Sosso Bala is an instrument of great age, and was named by UNESCO as one of the Nineteen Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001.

Historical records and diaspora encounters

Records of the Balafon go back to at least the 12th century CE. In 1352 CE, Morroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reported the existence of the ngoni and balafon at the court of Malian ruler Mansa Musa.
European visitors to West Africa described balafons in the 17th century largely unchanged from the modern instrument. The Atlantic Slave Trade brought some balafon players to the Americas. The Virginia Gazette records African-Americans playing a barrafoo in 1776, which appears to be a balafon. Other North American references to these instruments die out by the mid 19th century.

Also

• The title of the Senegalese National Anthem is Pincez Tous vos Koras, Frappez les Balafons (Everyone strum your koras, strike the balafons).

• A modern festival devoted to the balafon, the Triangle du balafon, now takes place annually at Sikasso in Mali.

Famous players

Famous balafon players have included:

• Ba banga nyeck, Cameroun Balaphone Player, live in Ivory Coast
• Aly Keita, Aly Keita and the Magic Balaphone, Malian Balaphone Player
• El Hadj Djeli Sory Kouyaté,
• Ibrihima Dioubate, from Guinea, of Delou Fatala, Miami FL
• N'Faly Kouyate of the Afro Celt Sound System
• Modibo Diabaté, from Mali.
• Keletigui Diabaté, playing for Habib Koité's Bamada group,
• Rokia Traoré, Malian singer, guitarist, and band leader.
• Gert Kilian,
• Yaya Diallo,
• Kimi Djabate, Bissau-Guinean musician
• Mory Kanté, early in his career,
• Neba Solo (Senufo balafon group, led by Souleymane Traoré) from Sikasso,
• Bill Summers, American jazz musician, performing with Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, and Los Hombres Calientes,
• Pharoah Sanders, American jazz musician,
• Lonnie Liston Smith, American jazz musician,
• Lawrence Killian, American jazz musician,
• Stefon Harris, American jazz musician,
• Richard Bona, Cameroonian jazz musician,
• Mama Ohandja, Cameroonian composer and performer,
• The Symmetric Orchestra led by Toumani Diabaté, Malian musician and griot,
• Mohamed Kafando, Abou Kanazoé, and Kassim Drabo from the Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso)-based Djiguiya,
• Balla Kouyate, from Mali, who plays with Oran Etkin
• Other Burkina based balfon ensembles include:
  • Saramaya,
  • Les Freres Coulibaly,
  • Djeli-Kan,
  • Adama Dramé,
  • le Troupe Saaba,
  • Farafina, specifically Mahama Konaté.
• Various Cameroon based Bikutsi ensembles,

• Momo Werner Wevers, German balafon player, plays solo and with the "Ensemble M.Pahiya" (balafon and classical guitar)
• Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo
• Dominic Howard of Muse used a balafon for Screenager on the band's second album, Origin of Symmetry.

Autoharp

modern Autoharp

The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither.

History

Autoharp (center) by C.F. Zimmermann Co. in 1896–1899;
(left is Marxophone, right is Dolceola)

There is debate over the origin of the auto-harp. A German immigrant in Philadelphia by the name of Charles F. Zimmermann was awarded US 257808 in 1882 for a design for a musical instrument that included mechanisms for muting certain strings during play. He named his invention the "autoharp". Unlike later autoharps, the shape of the instrument was symmetrical, and the felt-bearing bars moved horizontally against the strings instead of vertically. It is not known if Zimmermann ever commercially produced any instruments of this early design. Karl August Gütter of Markneukirchen, Germany, built a model that he called a "Volkszither," which most resembles the autoharp played today. Gütter obtained a British patent for his instrument circa 1883–1884. Zimmermann, after returning from a visit to Germany, began production of the Gütter design in 1885 but with his own design patent number and catchy name. Gütter's instrument design became very popular, and Zimmermann has often been mistaken as the inventor.

Trademark

The term "Autoharp" was registered as a trademark in 1926. The word is currently claimed as a trademark by U.S. Music Corporation, whose Oscar Schmidt division manufactures Autoharps.^{[citation needed]} The USPTO registration, however, covers only a "Mark Drawing Code (5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS IN STYLIZED FORM" and has expired. In litigation with George Orthey, it was held that Oscar Schmidt could only claim ownership of the stylized lettering of the word Autoharp, the term itself having moved into general usage.

Construction

Modern autoharps have 36 or 37 strings, although some examples with as many as 47 strings, and even a rare 48-string model exists. They are strung in either diatonic (1, 2 or 3 key models) or chromatic scales. Standard models have 15 or 21 chord bars, or buttons, available, a selection of major, minor, and dominant seventh chords. These are arranged for historical or systemic reasons, as for example:

Eb  Bb  F   C   G   D   A
 F7  C7  G7  D7  A7  E7  B7
  Ab  Bb7 Cm  Gm  Dm  Am  Em

Although the autoharp is often thought of as a rhythm instrument for playing chordal accompaniment, modern players can play melodies on the instrument. Diatonic players are able to play fiddle tunes by using open-chording techniques, "pumping" the damper buttons while picking individual strings. Skilled chromatic players can perform a range of melodies.
Diatonically strung single key instruments from modern day luthiers such as Orthey, Fladmark, Hollandsworth, D'Aigle, Baker, Daniels and Goose Acres are known for their lush sound. This is accomplished by doubling the strings for individual notes. Since the strings for notes not in the diatonic scale need not appear in the string bed, the resulting extra space is used for the doubled strings, resulting in fewer damped strings. Two- and three-key diatonics compromise the number of doubled strings to gain the ability to play in two or three keys, and to permit tunes containing accidentals, which could not otherwise be rendered on a single key harp. A three-key harp in the circle of fifths, such as a GDA, is often called a festival or campfire harp, as the instrument can easily accompany fiddles around a campfire at a festival in their favored keys.

Electric Autoharp

Electric autoharp

Prior to the 1960s there were no pickups to amplify the autoharp other than a rudimentary contact microphone, which had a poor-quality, tinny sound. Eventually a bar magnetic pickup was designed by Harry DeArmond, and manufactured by Rowe Industries. Roger Penney of Bermuda Triangle Band was the first person to introduce the electric autoharp to the public, as cited in a 1968 Variety article. In the 1970s Oscar Schmidt came out with their own magnetic pickup.
Shown at the right is a 1930 refinished Oscar Schmidt Inc. Model "A". This harp has 2 DeArmond magnetic pickups (one under the chord bars), with a d'Aigle fine tuning mechanism, and chord bar assembly, and was used in a 1968 MGM/Heritage Records recording by Euphoria.
A synthesized version of the autoharp, the Omnichord, was introduced in 1981 and is now known as the Q-Chord, described as a "digital songcard guitar".

Notable performers

Main article: List of autoharp players

Autoharps have been used in the United States as bluegrass and folk instruments, perhaps most famously by Maybelle Carter, Sara Carter, Helen Carter and June Carter, all of the Carter Family. They are relatively easy to learn to play as a rhythm instrument, but offer great rewards to the more committed player as a melody instrument. Grand Ole Opry star Cecil Null was the first to develop the upright style for playing the autoharp that was in turn used by the Carter Family.
Outside of bluegrass and country music, both acoustic and electric autoharp were occasionally used in the folk-influenced parts of late 1960s/1970s progressive rock, psychedelia and related genres by e.g. Genesis, Renaissance and Led Zeppelin.
Sylvia Tyson of Ian & Sylvia featured the autoharp in several recordings, including You Were on My Mind.
Two Lovin Spoonful songs feature the autoharp playing of John Sebastian: "Do You Believe in Magic" and "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice".
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds' score features a part for Autoharp.
Janis Joplin also played the autoharp, which can be heard in her early, unreleased recording "So Sad to Be Alone".
British musician PJ Harvey played the autoharp on her 2004 album Uh Huh Her, specifically on the song "The Darker Days of Me & Him"). Her 2007 album White Chalk also features the instrument on many tracks. She also wrote and recorded most of her latest album Let England Shake on the autoharp.
Canadian singer song writer Basia Bulat, is a well known user of the Autoharp, using it both live and on her recording material, in particular her 2010 album Heart of My Own.
British singer songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae regularly plays the autoharp and composed the title track "The Sea" from her 2010 Mercury Award nominated album called "The Sea" using chords that she composed on the autoharp.
James Dale from the British pop band Goldheart Assembly used an Autoharp for their song "Last Decade".
American musician John Mellencamp plays the autoharp in the video for his song "Cherry Bomb".
US band Midlake use an autoharp on the album The Courage of Others.
New York based band Billy Nayer Show uses autoharp prominently in their music.
Brian Briggs, lead singer of Stornoway (band) uses the autoharp in their new song 'The Sixth Wave'. He learnt the instrument especially for the song.
Marc Gunn, a celtic artist, uses the Autoharp in nearly all of his songs.

Agogô

Modern agogo bell

African agogo bell (also known as gankoqui)

 

An agogô (Yoruba: agogo, meaning bell) is a single or multiple bell now used throughout the world but with origins in traditional Yoruba music and also in the samba baterias (percussion ensembles). The agogô may be the oldest samba instrument and was based on West African Yoruba single or double bells. The agogô has the highest pitch of any of the bateria instruments.

Construction

The African agogô bell is also called the gangkogui or gonkogui. It is made of metal with each bell a different size. This allows a differently pitched note to be produced depending on which bell has been hit. Originally wrought iron, they are now manufactured in a variety of metals and sizes for different sound qualities. The most common arrangement is two bells attached by a U shaped piece of metal. The smaller bell is held uppermost. Either bell may be hit with a wooden stick to make a cowbell like sound or less commonly a clicking sound is produced by squeezing the two bells together.

Religious origins

It is used in the ceremonial music of religions in Yorubaland as well as in their new world practice, which are based on beliefs brought by slaves from Africa such as candomblé. It may be officially used for congregation or heralding the coming of a dignitary. It is the main instrument of Obatala and Orisa Nla (Orisa Nla o, Alagogo Oje o). (Both Obatala and Orisa n la are very important Yoruba deities or gods).

Rhythmic patterns

Afro-Brazilian agogo bell patterns.

Bell pattern 1 is the most basic, or archetypal pattern. It is the 4/4 form of what is known in ethnomusicology as the standard pattern, and known in Cuba as clave. Pattern 1 is used in maculelê and some Candomblé and Macumba rhythms. Bell 2 is used in afoxê and can be thought of as pattern 1 embellished with four additional strokes. Bell 3 is used in batucada. Pattern 4 is the maracatu bell and can be thought of as pattern 1 embellished with four additional strokes.

In rock music

David Byrne, lead singer of 1980s and 1990s rock band Talking Heads, has used the agogô on various albums and live in concert. Also, agogô bells play a distinctive role within drummer Neil Peart's solos during his live performances with the band Rush. A good example can be heard on "Light My Candle" from the 1996 musical Rent. Other examples are their use in the songs "Addicted To Drugs" by the Kaiser Chiefs and "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" by LCD Soundsystem.

Archlute

The archlute (Spanish archilaúd, Italian arciliuto, German Erzlaute, Russian Архилютня) is a European plucked string instrument developed around 1600 as a compromise between the very large theorbo, the size and re-entrant tuning of which made for difficulties in the performance of solo music, and the Renaissance tenor lute, which lacked the bass range of the theorbo. Essentially a tenor lute with the theorbo's neck-extension, the archlute lacks the power in the tenor and the bass that the theorbo's large body and typically greater string length provide.
The main differences between the archlute and the "baroque" lute of northern Europe are that the baroque lute has 11 to 13 courses, while the archlute typically has 14, and the tuning of the first six courses of the baroque lute outlines a d-minor chord, while the archlute preserves the tuning of the Renaissance lute, with perfect fourths surrounding a third in the middle for the first six. The archlute was often used as a solo instrument for the first three-quarters of the 17th century, but is rarely mentioned as a continuo instrument in this period, the theorbo being the lute class instrument with this role.
As continuo bass lines were composed both faster in motion and higher in tessitura towards the end of the 17th century, the archlute began to eclipse the theorbo as the main plucked string continuo instrument. The theorbo lacked the higher notes of the bass lines and the increasing practise of doubling the continuo part with a bowed bass (cello or viol) made the archlute's lack of power in the tenor and bass a less important shortcoming.
The theorbo had been commonly used as the melodic bass instrument in trio sonatas from the beginning of the Baroque and the archlute took over that function too, with the most famous example being Corelli's Opus 1 and 3 trio sonatas which have partbooks for 1st and 2nd violin, 'violone o arciliuto' and a continuo part for organ, a simplified version of the 'violone o arciliuto' book. The violone o arciliuto book has just as many figures to tell the player what chords to play as the organ partbook, which suggests the archlute player would be adding chords above the bass where possible.
The archlute was used in Handel's operas and like repertoire; Giulio Cesare (1724) has continuo parts labelled both arciliuto and tiorba. Perhaps one player would play both instruments.
Music for solo archlute is usually notated in tablature.

Composers

Any late Italian Baroque music with a part labelled 'liuto' will mean 'arciliuto', the classic Renaissance lute being in disuse by this time. The most important composers of archlute music in the 17th century are Alessandro Piccinini and in the 18th century Giovanni Zamboni, whose set of 12 sonatas (1718, Lucca) for the instrument is extant, and Antonio Scotti and Melchiorre Chiesa, Milanese composers from late 18th century. Other known composers of archlute music were Antonio Tinazzoli, Giuseppe Vaccari and Lodovico Fontanelli.

Performers

The most important living archlute players are Edin Karamazov, Axel Wolf and Luca Pianca (the founder of Il Giardino Armonico), who predominantly play archlutes, and Paolo Cherici, Massimo Lonardi, Luciano Contini, Paul O'Dette, Jakob Lindberg and Nigel North who use archlutes extensively.
The Edin Karamazov's archlute is featured on Sting's album Songs from the Labyrinth, devoted to sixteenth-century music composed by John Dowland, and Karamazov's album "Come, heavy sleep" (music by J. S. Bach and Britten).

Bendir

Moroccan bendir with snares

The bendir (Arabic: بندير‎; plural banadir, بنادير; also called erbeni or arbani) is a frame drum used as a traditional instrument throughout North Africa. Unlike the tambourine, it has no jingles but most often has a snare (usually made of gut) stretched across its head, which when the drum is struck with the fingers or palm gives the tone a buzzing quality. The bendir is a frame drum with a wooden frame and a membrane. It creates different tones according to the spreading of the shock waves moving across the skins itself. A frame drum is the oldest and most common kind of drum. The bendir is used throughout North Africa, Ancient Egypt, and Mesopotamia. The bendir drum has been around since prehistoric times. The bendir is about 14 to 16 inches. The drum is played kept vertical by inserting the thumb of the left hand in a special holes in the frame. The bandir or bendir is used in the special ceremonies of the Sufi. The Sufi tradition is strongly characterized by the use of music, rhythm, and dance to reach particular states of consciousness. The bendir has a small hole in the bottom, which is used to balance the drum at the base of the left thumb as the left hand fingers that the rim and the right hand plays the rim and center. It is mainly used in the following countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and sometimes Egypt. Egypt mostly uses a frame drum similar to the bendir, which is called a tar, except it does not have a snare in the back of it.

Alboka

A Basque traditional alboka

The alboka is a double hornpipe or clarinet native to the Basque Country.
Although the alboka is a woodwind instrument, its name is derived from the Arabic "al-bûq" (البوق) (literally "the trumpet" or "the horn"). Though long identified with the Basque people, according to some scholars the instrument was originally native to Asia and may have been brought into Iberia by the Arab conquest. It was evidently already established in Spain by the time of the 13th-century "Poema de Alexandre," in which it is mentioned by name, and there are apparent representations of the instrument in surviving medieval sculptural church decorations.

A modern alboka made by Osses.

Among recent players of the instrument are Ibon Koteron and Alan Griffin, an Irish-born member of a Basque ensemble named after the instrument.