"occurrenceID","IRN","Catalog Number","Description","Materials","Cultural Attribution","Time Period","Locality","Continent","Country","Province/State","Accession info","Multimedia URLs" "247166bc-7074-48f6-af83-be3927638247","1210988","300257.nosub[1]","lyre, Chordophone, lyre made from the wood from the fig tree (ngowu); hemispherical bowl on small round foot, covered with hide, serves as resonator; hide passes over to sticks forming the arms; wooden cylinder mounted on upper ends of arms hold rolls of string from which 8 strings run convergently into the resonating chamber; they pass over a bridge of 5 sections of reed stalk affixed to the surface of resonating chamber by wads of bee's wax. L = 77.5 cm. CJP/ J 9/2004; H = 80.0 cm, maximum W = 58.0 cm, W (at arch) = 52.0 cm, W (at body) = 37.0 cm, maximum Depth = approx. 23.0 cm, Depth (base to tuning resin) = approx. 21.0 cm. CJP 6/2005 9/2004, Maker: Okong'o, the son of Odongo (Kamgan lineage). CJP / J 8/20049/2004, Collector's notes: The eight-stringed harp or nyatiti is perhaps the most popular traditional musical instrument. I was told that in the old days most young men knew how to play the harp, but only the most skilled players were asked to perform at social gatherings. The young men of today do not have much interest in the harp. They have taken up the Spanish guitar and play popular Afro-Cuban music, leaving the music of the nyatiti to be enjoyed by the older married people. The nyatiti player sits on a skin spread on the ground; his harp rests on the ground in front of him. He spends some time tuning the instrument, tightening the strings, testing them for tone, and adjusting them once again. Soon he begins to tap his right foot, causing the bells (gara) wrapped around his ankle to jingle in a regular rhythm. His fingers move quickly from string to string, picking out an appropriate melody. Finally he begins to sing. He calls out the name of a well-known man. In verse after verse, he combines this name with the nicknames and praise names by which the man is known. He tells of the man's personal habits which have made him so well known. If he has fought as a warrior, he describes the man's bravery and how this enemy or that one fell under his attack. And without fail, in verses scattered throughout the song, he gives the man's genealogy, placing him as any Luo individual is placed by re-standing his parentage, his ancestry and his progeny. There is no real end to such a song; the verses can be re-arranged and repeated as the instrument, he begins to sing a mourning song for someone who died recently. His audience will soon be asking him to play some of their favorites that they have heard him sing before. The verses of the song do not rhyme, but they do have a delightful poetic flavor to them. Here is a sample of a few verses which provide a biting social comment on Luo values towards agriculture: The Luo are different The Luo are different Deeivers - the Luo They deride a men who cultivates, Calling him anteater. They say rheumatism will break his back, And that disease will kill him. But a man who harvests much food, [continued], Collectors' notes continued: They call him a greedy man. They say gluttony will spoil his body. The Luo, they completely confuse me The Luo, they twist things around. If a man invited his friends to a beer party, he would invite a nyatiti player to entertain them. If a special ceremony is being performed, a nyatiti player will be invited, and, of course, the nyatiti player will be there to sing mourning songs for the dead at their funerals. The specimen purchased for the Museum is about 3 feet long. The sounding board of the harp is carved out of wood from the fig tree (ngowu). It is circular in plan, having a rounded, painted back and a flattened front. An untanned cowhide is stretched over the front of the sounding board at an angle and are fitted into a third bar roughly perpendicular to them. The eight strings of the harp are made from twined animal intestines. They are passed through a hole in the sounding board and over a set of reed sections held in place by beeswax and are finally wound around the bar at the far end. I have already mentioned that the nyatiti is not as popular today as it was in the past. After the European intrusion, two other musical instruments, the one-stringed violin and the accordian, spread quickly to the Luo from other East African tribes. While they were in vogue for a while and are still heard occasionally today, the Spanish guitar predominates the musical world at the present time. Purchased in East Kadiang'a Sub-Location, South Nyakach Location,Central Nyanza. Maker: Okong'o, the son of Odongo (Kamgan lineage). Materials: wood of the fig tree, cowhide, nails, animal intestines, reeds, beeswax, and paint. CJP/ J 9/2004","wood; fig tree, reed stalk, beeswax, animal hide; cow, animal intestine, metal (nails), paint","Luo","","","","","","[2921] W. L. Sytek (Purchase)"," /modules/file/icons/application-pdf.png"