East African-style bowl lyre (large)

Bowl lyres occur widely in East and Central Africa under various names; e.g., litungu among the Luo people of Kenya, ndongo among the Baganda of Uganda, nyatiti among the Luo of Kenya, krar among the Amhara of Ethiopia.

Our version is inspired by the ndongo of Uganda's Baganda people. A distinguishing feature of the ndongo is that, unlike in some others, the ndongo's playing strings don't pass over a bridge. Instead, the strings make contact with the skin covering the resonator, and this results in the traditional twangy sound when the instrument is played.

Also, instead of the traditional cloth or fiber tuning bulges, our offering features cello pegs. These are twisted in one direction to increase tension on the instrument's 8 monofilament strings and twisted in the opposite direction to lessen tension.

The instrument's frame is festooned with brass and sandcast trade beads, seed beads, and cowrie shells.

Dimensions: 28" l., 20" w., 6" h.

The following YouTube videos feature bowl lyres in play: "Kinobe playing East African music -- Endongo"; "Litungu: A traditional Western Kenya instrument," "Luo Nyatiti Music," "Ethiopian Music - Asnakech Worku - Tizita- song," "Baskeet lyre song: Ger'o," "Litungu demonstration.avi."