What's one musical instrument locally from your country?

Mine (Zimbabwean 🇿🇼) is the mbira.

For a feel of the sound: https://youtu.be/R5RMYh-n3LU

Jah Prayzah the guy singing is a renowned musician.

They seem to be using the mbira in modernized covers, but the metal pestle order seem the same as the more traditional looking ones.

P/S I'm not self promoting the YouTube link. It just shows how the mbira sounds unedited.

129 points · 47 comments · view on lemmy.world

47 Comments

mech@feddit.org · 18 pts · 264d (7 replies)
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe · 6 pts · 264d

Wow, that's awesome.

Had I only heard it I would've thought some kind of spinet.

Thanks for the link, those young ladies can play!

PinkInSlippers@piefed.social · 4 pts · 264d (3 replies)

Nice! Which country is this and what's the name of the instrument the 2 ladies are playing?

mech@feddit.org · 3 pts · 264d (2 replies)

This is Switzerland.
And the instrument is actually called Hackbrett (translates to hacking board).

bonenode@piefed.social · 1 pts · 263d (1 reply)
[ removed ]
mech@feddit.org · 3 pts · 263d

Sorry, the type of instrument is from Salzburg.
The recorded concert and the musicians are from Switzerland.

watson387@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 264d

That's excellent, and those two in particular look to be extremely talented!

idegenszavak@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 263d

It's an ancient instrument, first depictions are from 600BC Assyria, arrived via Greek and Roman culture to Europe. Common name is hammered dulcimer and it has countless versions for each region of the world, with more or less distinctive features. E.g. Hungarian cimbalom had a pedal, in some regions the strings are vertical,etc.

lime@feddit.nu · 16 pts · 264d (4 replies)

nyckelharpa 🇸🇪

watson387@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 264d (1 reply)

That's a great sound.

lime@feddit.nu · 4 pts · 263d

yeah they really fill the room when harmonising.

Coelacanth@feddit.nu · 1 pts · 263d

Ah, beat me to it! It's a great instrument.

PinkInSlippers@piefed.social · 1 pts · 263d

Lovely!

inlandempire@jlai.lu · 13 pts · 263d (1 reply)

The Valiha ; it's basically a tube guitar lol

PinkInSlippers@piefed.social · 1 pts · 263d

Madagascar 🇲🇬!

ada@piefed.blahaj.zone · 9 pts · 264d (1 reply)

Didgeridoo

PinkInSlippers@piefed.social · 3 pts · 264d

Australia! 🇦🇺

BakerBagel@midwest.social · 8 pts · 263d (2 replies)

USA alone is too easy, so I'm gonna go with Ohio. Edison invented the phonograph, which made listening to music anytime and anywhere a reality. The Wurlitzer organ was from Cincinnati, but i should be fair and say that while it was developed in Cincinnati, production was done in New York.

metallic_substance@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 263d (1 reply)

You could also add the Fender strat and the Gibson Les Paul to that list

captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 263d

Wait how are those ohioan

perishthethought@piefed.social · 8 pts · 264d (2 replies)

The drum kit or set - USA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_kit

Beacon@fedia.io · 6 pts · 264d

Also electric guitar, electric bass, and synthesizer are all from the US also

calliope@retrolemmy.com · 5 pts · 264d

I didn’t realize the drum set originated in the U.S. but it makes sense with jazz.

And I believe the electric guitar as well! George Beauchamp, along with Adolph Rickenbacker developed the first electromagnetic pickups.

Another unrelated U.S. one that comes to mind is the sousaphone

Dasus@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 263d (2 replies)

Jouhikko

If you've listened to Nordic metal at all I'm sure you've heard it in some song

PinkInSlippers@piefed.social · 2 pts · 263d (1 reply)

One of my faves so far

Dasus@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 261d

Thanks. It's very folk-y, I feel like.

Pellonpekko - Korpiklaani

idegenszavak@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 263d

It has 120 strings and you play it with sticks and a foot: the cimbalom.

A guy in the 19th century Budapest modernized the ancient hammered dulcimer by adding a dampening pedal and rearranging the strings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJiIasbzKqI

Quilotoa@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 264d

Canada gave us the Ugly Stick and the Sackbut.

Mylemmypt@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 263d (1 reply)
PinkInSlippers@piefed.social · 1 pts · 263d

Wow.. Portugal

rustydrd@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 263d (1 reply)
PinkInSlippers@piefed.social · 1 pts · 263d

Wow reminds me of The Hobbit

captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 263d (1 reply)

The Drumbone was invented in my country.

You asked for one, but I'll try to sneak this in because it actually predates my country by 15 years: the Glass Armonica. Invented in 1761 by Benjamin Franklin himself.

PinkInSlippers@piefed.social · 1 pts · 263d

Interesting!

MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 263d (3 replies)

The Kantele

Lot's a of kids learn to play a 5-string version, but it goes up to dozens of strings, and some have a pedal to control sustain.

The origins of the instrument are finnish, but it's also popular in Japan, which is why you'll see a lot of stuff online about it in Japanese. Including the video I linked.

Here's what they can do as members of a orchestra.

idegenszavak@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 263d (1 reply)

It seems like the local version of the Zither. You can have wildly different playing style on that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAeYt-swWG0

MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 263d

Well yes. There's only so many ways to suspend strings for musical purposes.

From the Kanteles Wikipedia:

It belongs to the southeast Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery, along with the Estonian kannel, the Latvian kokles, the Lithuanian kanklÄ—s, and the Russian gusli.

Plenty of versions of the same thing all over the world.

PinkInSlippers@piefed.social · 1 pts · 263d

🇫🇮!! Nice

myrmidex@belgae.social · 3 pts · 263d

Saxophone!

noseatbelt@piefed.ca · 2 pts · 263d (1 reply)

Ugly stick. 🇨🇦

mech@feddit.org · 2 pts · 263d

I heckled an Ugly Stick player once, until he hit me with it.

AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 263d

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_harmonica

I think that one is neat. Apparently the US is also responsible for the Electric Guitar, so there's that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_guitar

SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 263d

I don't know if this counts but in my parent's native Cuba there's the bongo which has African roots. It's a fundamental instrument in Cuba's various local genres such as Son Cubano from which Salsa (not the condiment) derives from. Listening to the mbria I can definitely hear the similarities between native African music and Cuban music.

Underwaterbob@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 263d

I'm not Korean, but I've lived here for twenty years. Gayageum is probably the most famous Korean instrument, but I'm partial to the haegeum. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OfsFoUell4Y&pp=ygUSaGFlZ2V1bSBpbnN0cnVtZW50

AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 263d (1 reply)

I now wonder if the Mbira is related to the Marimba? They sound very similar, though it seems the Marimba is more central African?

PinkInSlippers@piefed.social · 2 pts · 262d

Both mbira and marimba are commonly played in Zimbabwe. They are different. Though I do see the similar sounds. It's sort of like how one can play the same song chords with a piano and a guitar.

Rhoeri@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 263d

Bacon.

troglodyte_mignon@tarte.nuage-libre.fr · 1 pts · 259d

I remember hearing a mbira recording as a young child and loving it. (I didn’t know that word, though, people called it a « thumb piano ».) Then at some point I had the opportunity to try one, but I didn’t know how to play so the result was disappointing, and the metal things made my tiny fingers hurt, ha ha. The video sounds really nice!