Tube zither

The tube zither, called valiha, arrived in Madagascar in the 15th century a.d. with the Hova people, a Malay people.[48][49] Two forms  exist. The traditional form has as many as 14 strings cut and raised from the bamboo tube.[49]  Starting in the 20th century, the bamboo strips were replaced by metal strings, changing the instrument's sound.[49]

Africa also uses the raft zither, in which tube zithers are put together into a single musical instrument. One example of a raft zither is the Totombito zither, from Congo.[50] Other African examples may be found in Nigeria and East Africa.[51]

The instruments were used differently, depending on the cultures. In Cambodia, the Kong ring was plucked, used as a substitute for the sound of a circle of gongs, similar to the way a piano can substitute for an orchestra. In the Philippines, the zither strings were plucked but also hammered with a stick, like a drum. Off the coast of Burma and Thailand, the Moken people played their kating ga-un with a bow.[45]

Bamboo-tube-zithers the Kong ring in Cambodia, the Đàn goong in Vietnam. The instruments are also found in Burma and Thailand among the Pa'O (Black Karen),[30] Kayaw (Red Karen),[28] Sgaw Karen,[29] Khamu[52] and Shan peoples.[53][54]

The Khamu have more than one kind of bamboo-tube zither, with bamboo strings.[52] The bring is a parallel string zither, used fur percussion.[52] Like other parallel-string percussive bamboo zithers, it has two stings cut from the bamboo, the stings linked together with a thin piece of bamboo, a small hole cut into the tube wall below The connector.[52] The bring is different than many tube zithers, having the two ends of the bamboo tube open.[52] One end is held against the musician's body while playing it, closing that end, and the musician uses a hand to cover and uncover the other hole, changing the sound.[52] They also have zithers designed for plucking.[52]

Early knowledge of Indonesian musical instruments comes from artwork and literature of the Hindu-Javanese civilization, which began with Hindu colonists in the fifth century AD.[55] Because bamboo instruments decay, evidence of them comes through iconography, images in art, and literature.[55] It is likely that the instruments pre-date their first representation in imagery.[55] The instrument is found in the Kinddung Sunda, a work in Middle Javanese which was used in about the 14th and 15th centuries.[56] In that work, it was called the guntang, and is still called that in Bali.[55] The instrument is found in the Kinddung Sunda, a work in Middle Javanese which was used in about the 14th and 15th centuries.[57] It is also present in the "entire archipelago" but under different names, including the gumbeng or bumbeng.[55][57]

Instruments may be created with single strings, pairs of strings (parallel strings), and with three or more strings (polychordal).[57] The number of strings influences how they are played. Instruments with three or fewer strings are played like drums, the strings beaten with a stick.[57] Instruments with three or more strings may be plucked with the thumbnails.[57] These may also be played with a combination of thumbnail and stick, the player moving back and forth between plucked and hammered notes.[19]

The traditional ensemble music of Indonesia centers around gong and gong-chime based ensembles, called gamelans. The music was imitated with other instruments, including bamboo-based ensembles.

The Gumbeng ensemble includes a polychordal bamboo-tube zither with bamboo strings to play melody, a second bamboo-tube zither set up as a parallel-string instrument (strings connected together and sounding together and functioning as "kempul") another string making "kenong beats", a bamboo-tube (not a zither) functioning as "kedang" by beating open ends of the tube with the palms of the hands, a bamboo-tube instrument blown as a gong.[58]

The chelempung ensemble or celempung, found today on Java and in places under Javanese influence (including Sumatra), consists normally of rows of "bonang" kettle bells, in rows of 3 or 5 bells.[59] However, instruments may substitute for the kettle bells, including a single celempung metal-stringed zither or a chelempung orchestra consisting of idiochord-bamboo tube zithers.[59] In this last ensemble, instruments may be named for their function in the orchestra: the kendang awi (bamboo kendang) replaces the kendang drum; the ketuk awi (bamboo ketuk) replaces the ketuk gong-chime part.[59] Another instrument used with this ensemble is the celempung renteng, which refers to a row (reteng) of parallel-string tube zithers (celempung). This row has tube zithers of different sizes, each playing a different note, like tone-bars on a xylophone.[8][10] Strings tuned to higher notes imitate the gamelan chimes, and lower note strings imitate gongs.[10]

Another zither used in the chelempung ensemble is a three-string celempung indung.[8] The instrument is polychordal, with strings played individually to make different notes.[8] Bridges can be placed under the strings in the center of two of the strings, allowing even more notes, on either side of the bridge. The lowest note string has been designed to make a "sustained boom" through the use of a flap, over a hole in the bamboo tubing; the flap vibrates with the string and "this sound/energy is transmitted through the length of the tube through the small hole."[10] The kendang drum is imitated by hitting the open end of the tube with the palm of the musician's hand.[10] A player can also influence the pitch of the sound by making the opening on the end of the instrument larger or smaller with the palm of a hand—a completely open hole makes the highest pitch sound, and closing the hole makes the lowest pitched sound.[8]

The Philippines have a variety of names and forms for the bamboo-tube zither, and pluck the instruments add use the for percussion, and in modern times have developed a bowed form. The different versions of names may be the result of transcribing them into English, but may also be the versions of names in different dialects or languages. The instruments are made from a tube of bamboo, about 10 centimeters across, with the ends blocked.[35] The ends may be partially open or the instrument may have added holes or be deliberately cracked to help resonance.[35][33] The instruments are idiochords, with strings cut from the tube, in strips attached at both ends and given tension with wedges placed between tube and string.[35] They may be polychords, with lengthwise rows of stings spaced out around the tube, or parallel stringed with strings in one or two groups of two.[35]

The instruments may be played in orchestras of bamboo-zithers, "rural gamelan ensembles," in which the instruments take the place of bonang, kenong and kempul gongs.[60]

Philippines. Kolitong polychord tube-zither.

The polychordal tube zithers are played on Northern Luzon, Mindanao island and Palawan. On Northern Luzon, the zithers include the Ilongot five-stringed kollesing or kulisin, Bontok kolitong, kollitong, or kullitong, Kalinga six-stringed kolitong and six or eleven-stringed kulibit, Isneg five-stringed ohitang.[35][61]

On Mindanao the Bagobo call it the taw-go, tugo, or padang.[61] The B’laan or Bilaan, call it sluray, sluday or sloroy.[61] The Subanun call their five-string zither the sigitan.[35] The Maguindanaon call it the tangkel.[61] The Manobo call their seven-stringed zither the tugo, tangkew or takul.[61] The Mansaka call it the takul.[61] The T’boli call it the sludoy or s’ludoi.[61] The Tiruray call their eight-string zither the tangke, tangkel or togo.[61] The Bukidnon Matigsalug name their six-stringed zither the saluray.[35][61]

On Palawan, it is called the pagang.[61]

Bukidnon, Philippines. Takumbo parallel-stringed tube zither, used for percussion.

Parallel-stringed tube zithers are used on Mindanao by the Maranao, Tiruray, and Manobo, and on North Luzon by the Isneg.[62] A flattened section is created on a length of bamboo, with a hole in the center.[62] Two strings are cut on the either side of the flattened section.[62] A platform is placed to connect the two stings (above the hole) so that they vibrate together.[62] The instruments may have either one or two pairs of strings and may either be plucked or struck with bamboo sticks.[35]

The Maranao call their zither serongagandi. The Isneg call theirs tadcheng (or variants tedcheng, gacheng and ayudding).[35][62]

The Kalinga's six-stringed kulibet is held in the player's hands and plucked.[35] The player uses thumbs on two strings and his middle and index fingers for the other four, plucking alternately with each side to sustain a melody.[35] The Isneg play their five-stringed ohitang in the same manner, plucking with thumbs and fingers.[35] The Ilongglot have a way for two people to play one instrument, the man holding the five-string kollewing in his hands, the woman beating percussion on the strings with bamboo sticks.[35] The subanun play with the holder plucking and the person with sticks tapping the body of the instrument with sticks.[35] The Truray do the same, but it is specifically two women that play with way.[35]

For some entertainment, such as dancing, some groups pair the tube-zither with 2-string kudlong lute, including the Bilaan, T'boli, Vukidnon Matigsalug.[35]

Northern India, Rudra veena.

The Rudra veena (different than the Saraswati veena) is a plucked instrument, a wood or bamboo tube that holds strings and fretboard and has 2 gourd resonators. The musicologists who classify instruments have placed the Rudra veena in different positions in their classifications, either as a bar zither or as a tube zither.[63][6] As a tube zither, there is a historical connection to other tube zithers. Southeast Asia has a wide variety of development for tube zithers and can't be excluded as the developers of this style of instrument.[64] The tube zithers may have moved from Southeast Asia to Northern India by way of overland trade.[64] The more mainstream view shows stick-zithers with gourds (looking much like the Rudra Veena as possibly a pre-bamboo tube form) went from India to Java.[64]

In antiquity, the Chinese guzheng may have originally been a bamboo-tube zither.[46][65] That was what was described in the Shuowen Jiezi.[65] Kurt Sachs pointed out that bamboo large enough to form the body of a guzheng only grew in the far south.[46] It would be redesigned later to imitate and use curved boards like the Se to replace the curved half-tube of bamboo. It was also said to have evolved from the Se. In their current form, both instruments are what are described to be board zithers rather than half-tube zithers.

The Japanese Koto is also a half-tube zither.[66] The ancestor of the koto was the Chinese guzheng.[67][68][69][66] It was first introduced to Japan from China in the 7th and 8th century.[70] The first known version had five strings, which eventually increased to seven strings. (It had twelve strings when it was introduced to Japan in the early Nara Period (710–784) and increased to thirteen strings). The Japanese koto belongs to the Asian zither family that also comprises the Chinese zheng (ancestral to the other zithers in the family), the Korean gayageum, and the Vietnamese dan tranh.[69]

The bamboo half-tube zither found in the Philippines among the Ifugao is called  Tadcheng, Tedcheng, Gacheng, or  Ayudding It has two to four strings which, depending on the style of playing, are plucked with the fingers or struck with small bamboo sticks. Boys and men play the tadcheng for entertainment, often tapping rhythms patterned after those played on the gongs.[71] The Ibaloi of North Luzon also have a half-tube polychord tube zither which they call the kaltsang .[35][72]

The Moken people, who live in the Mergui Archipelago in the southern end of Burma, have a two-string bamboo-tube zither, the kating ga-un which they pluck and bow.[45] The instrument, made from a tube of bamboo about 622 millimeters (24.48 inches) long and 48–52 mm (1.8 — 2 inches) across, was originally strung with plant fibers or gut from sharks or dogs.[45] The Moken have modernized their instrument, using nylon fishing line in place of the plant or gut strings.[45] One long string is folded in half and the folded bight is hooked onto the lower end of the instrument.[45] The two string-ends are each tightened and tied at the top of the instrument.[45] The strings are held off the bottom of the instrument with a bridge.[45] The bow is made of bamboo, with a strip of rattan for a bowstring and bee's wax for rosin.[45] The bamboo tube is closed at the bottom and open at the top, and three holes are burned through the bamboo in the lower half of the instrument.[45] The sound radiates upward, so that the player hears it best.[45] The bow is stored inside the bamboo tube.[45]

The instrument strings are tuned "approximately a fourth apart" at "roughly F4 — A#4".[45] The musician plays the instrument by using a bow on the strings, fingers underneath the strings at the top of the instrument.[45] The musician raises and lowers tension on the strings, changing the pitch of the notes, in a roughly "four-tone scale."[45] The higher-pitched string is used to play melody, and the lower-pitched string is occasionally played as a drone, providing "heterophony."[45]

The kating ga-un is played as part of the religious life-view of the Moken people.[45] The two strings represent ancestral couples, and the musician, by playing the instrument, has "dialogue with the entities of the mythical past."[45]

The White Cloud and San Carlos Apache people in Arizona developed a bowed-tube zither in the 1800s, called today, the Apache fiddle.[73] The instrument was made from the hollowed-out stem of an agave cactus, the top sealed with piñón pine pitch, a wedge driven up through the bottom of the instrument so that that the edge of the wedge supported the weight of the bridge from inside.[73] The instrument and bow were both strung with horsehair, the hair on the fiddle twisted into a tight string, the hair on the bow straight.[73] The tuning peg tightened the fiddle string to "C# below middle C."[73]

It may have been played as well by the Yakutat people (part of the Tlingit of the northwest coast of North America.[73] The Diegueno of Southern California had a bowed instrument, as well, and the Seri people on Tiburón Island, although the Seri's traditional fiddle was the enneg.[73][74]

The tone of the instrument was "a faint dry squeak", characterized humorously by Apaches as the "buzz, buzz, sound." They also called it "wood singing."[73]

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  Arizona, 2011. Apache fiddle, agave stalk for tube.
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  Arizona 1996. Apache fiddle with bow.

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  Vietnam. Bro with tuning pegs for wire strings, resonator gourd.
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  Vietnam. Đàn goong with tuning pegs for wire strings. Gourd on bottom. Goong means gong.
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  Rote Island, Indonesia. Sasando bamboo-tube zither with wire strings and leaf resonator.
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  North Sumatra, Indonesia, Toba Batak people, c. 1852. Tanggetong. Also called gondang buluh.[75] "Gondang," Indonesian for Ficus variegata. "Buluh," Indonesian for bamboo. Tube zither with idiochord strings (strings made from the tube itself). Polychord.
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  Indonesia. Lamanole Village, East Flores. Tatabuang. Bamboo. These were also made of breadfruit limbs, hollowed out.[76] Polychord.
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  Philippines. Bagabo musicians exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, 1904. The girls hold tube zithers [possibly saluray], and the man holds a kutiyapi lute.
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  Madagascar. Valiha, modern with metal strings. The instrument's soundboard-surface has a modern finish.
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  Philippines. Not clear if plucked or tapped with stick like a drum.
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  Philippines. Tagbanua instrument with Tagbanua characters.

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  Bali, Indonesia. Guntang or Gintang, one-string percussion zither, also an idiochorde bamboo-tube zither, a rhythm-piercing percussion instrument in Balinese music, adopted in the music of Lombok.
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  Indonesia, Maluku Utara, Sula Islands Regency. Tuba auyota parallel-string percussion zither from the Sula culture. The strings are played in pairs. This instrument has 2 pairs of strings.
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  Java, Indonesia. Kendang awi percussion tube-zither pre-1900 with the drum "kendang" as part of its name. Parallel-string percussion zither. The strings are played in pairs, struck on the connector between strings. This was part of an orchestra with anklungs.
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  Philippines. Takumbo percussion tube-zither. May also be plucked.
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  Dhutang, percussion tube zither from Assam, India