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Human Migration and African Harps

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

Klaus Wachsmann
Klaus Wachsmann*
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
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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
Information
Journal of the International Folk Music Council , Volume 16 , January 1964 , pp. 84 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © International Council for Traditional Music 1964

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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

2. See Fig. 19 for Uganda specimen, Ankermann, G., “Die Afrikanischen Musikinstrumente,” Ethnologisches Notizblatt, 2, 1902.Google Scholar For Mauretanian specimens see Gabus, J., Au Sahara, Arts et Symbols, Neuchatel, 1958, p. 68, Fig. 36.Google Scholar

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.

8. Felkin, R. W., “Notes on the Waganda Tribe of Central Africa,” Proc. of Roy. Soc. of Edinburgh, 13, 1886, p. 752.Google Scholar

9. Trowell, K. M. and Wachsmann, K. P., Tribal Crafts of Uganda, 1953, p. 404.Google Scholar

10. Murdock, G. P., Africa, its Peoples and Their Culture History, 1959, p. 225.Google Scholar

11. Evans-Pritchard, E. E., A Further Contribution to the Study of Zande Culture. Africa 1963, Vol. 33, p. 191 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, in conjunction with “The Zande State,” JRAI, 93, 1963, p. 135.

12. Greenberg, J. H., “Africa as a Linguistic Area,” Bascom, W. R. and Herskovits, M. J. (ed.), Continuity and Change in African Cultures, 1959, p. 20.Google Scholar

13. Oliver, R. and Fage, J. D., A Short History of Africa, Penguin African Library, 1962, p. 50.Google Scholar

14. Arkell, A. J., “The Valley of the Nile,” Oliver, R. (ed.), The Dawn of African History, 1961, pp. 11–12 Google Scholar, and A History of the Sudan, 1961, pp. 174 ss.

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.)

19. Crazzolara, J. P., “The Lwoo People,” Uganda Journal, 5, No. 1, 1937, p. 21, 1600-1650 A.D.Google Scholar

20. Prominent string holders in harps occur also in two places in the Cameroon-Nigerian border region.