Modified portable earth bow (gutbucket/gayumba/tingotalango)

Dimensions: 18" l., 4" w.

This instrument is a portable form of the so-called earth bow, found in parts of sub-Saharan Africa under

various names. In Guinea and Mali, for example, it is called toukhoucingame, and in Uganda it is called

sekitulege. The portable form of the earth bow also occurs in parts of the Americas, again under various

names: In the United States it is called gutbucket or washtub bass, in Haiti tanmbou mawengwen ("mosquito drum"), in eastern Cuba tingotalango, and in the Dominican Republic gayumba.

The instrument is played by plucking the wire string with the index finger of one hand while simultaneously flexing the shaft with the other hand -- upward to tighten the string, thus raising the pitch, and downward to loosen the pressure on the string, thus lowering the pitch.

More on portable and earth-bound forms of the instrument is to be found in the following videos (): "Chidembo (Zimbabwean Musical Bow)"; "African handmade musical instrument/the toukhoucingalame"; "How to Make a Mosquito Drum"; "Tingo Talango - Tingotalango"; "Anghbindi (Earth Bow)"; "Young Bozo boy playing a musical bow (Mali)"; "Endangered African American Musical Instruments - Part 2"