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Musical Instruments

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Bachi - General term for drum sticks in Japanese music.

Bada - gourd drum made from a large gourd with the top third cut off, a goatskin is fastened to the gourd with rope and tuned using Mali weave (Ivory Coast).  

Bafoko - West African calabash drum, covered by a goat skin. 

Bagana - a large eight to ten-string Ethiopian plucked lyre. It has a trapezoidal wooden frame.

Bägänna - See Bagana.

Baglama - a long-necked Turkish lute, with a pear shaped body, about 1 meter long. It is also found in Greece.

Bai - clappers (Ghana).

Bajflöjt - Swedish drone flute.  

Bajo sexto - a Mexican twelve-string guitar.

Bala - a West African xylophone made with strips of wood, increasing in length, connected together with thread, and with hollow gourd resonators of varying sizes attached to the bottom to achieve a greater tonal range.

Balafon - See Bala.

Balaban - a short Persian cylindrical oboe, with a very smooth and variable sound.

Balalaika - Three-stringed Russian folk lute with triangular body. 

Balaman - Azerbaijani short cylindrical oboe with a very smooth and variable sound.  

Balo - West African xylophone made with wooden bars. Also known as bala and balafon.

Bandola - 1. Three string guitar from Spain. 2. Modern lute of Colombiateardrop shape, flat or concave back.

Bandolín - small South American Creole lute, pear shaped, wih a freeted neck. It comes in various sizes and ranges from 8 to 15 steel strings instrument with fretted neck.

Bandolim - Portuguese mandolin.

Bandoneón - a square-built button accordionused in Argentinean tango.

Bandura - a fretless plucked dulcimer found in the Ukraine. It has a short neck, an oval flat body and is held vertically.

Bandurria - small 12-string mandolin-type instrument with a very short wide neck and 14 metal frets, popular in Spain and Spanish America. It's played with a pick.

Bandurria sonora - a bandurria with 6 metal strings instead of guts strings.

Bang'gu - Chinese small drum.

Banjo

Banjolele - Ukulele Banjo.

Banjolin - Mandolin Banjo.

Bansuri - Indian Bamboo flute. banya, bayan - the bass Indian tabla drum played by the left hand.

Bapó - Brazilian maracas.  

Bara- gourd drum from the Ivory Coast.

Baraban - Klezmer bass drum.

Barbat - Persian ud.

Barrel drum - a large two-headed drum that is laid horizontally.

Batar - Somalian drum.

Barriles - drums made of wood and covered with goatskin. They are similar to the Cuban conga drums.

Bate-bate - Angolan percussion.

Bawu - a single-reed transverse flute (China).

Bayan - chromatic accordion of Russia and Belarus, with a button keyboard.

Belamentengo - The smallest of the Mandinka drums.

Belengo - the second smallest of the Mandinka drums.  

Bell - metallic instrument in the shape of an upside down wine glass . It is played by striking it with a mallet. Bembé - A set of three drums made from hollowed palm tree logs, with nailed-on skins which are tuned with heat.  

Bena - Sardinian cane clarinet.

Bendir

Berda - Croatian fretted bass.

Berimbau

Bianqing - Stone chimes in the shape of scythes (China).

Bianzhong - A set of tuned bronze bells that produce several notes each at different intervals (China).

Bilbil - Kosovar Albanian ducted flute with a mouthpiece that is usually cut diagonally and stopped with a plug.

Bili - ancient Chinese flute.

Biniou - a Breton instrument that resembles a set of bagpipes with a small seven-holed chanter with a single drone, pitched an octave higher than usual.

Bin-sasara - A strung clapper made of many small slats of wood connected by a spine of string with handles at each end. By flicking the handles back and forth, the slats strike each other.

Binyege - seed rattles used by the Bunyoro people from Uganda. Young male dancers tie the rattles around the lower legs and compete for the attention of young women.  

Bin - Indian plucked lute. Bin zasara - See bin-sazara.

Birimbao - a horseshoe shaped Jew's harp from Galicia (Spain). Made out of wood or iron.

Bishur - Mongolian shawm. Biwa - A Japanese lute with a cranked neck developed from the Chinese pipa, and played with an oversized plectrum called a bachi. The biwa has three strings and four frets.

Blekete – A big Ghanaian bass drum with double skin. The player holds it under his left arm, and plays a stick with his right hand.

Blul - a Kurdish shepherd flute made of ebony.

Blur - See blul.

Blekete - a big double-skinned bass drum played with a stick like a talking drum (Ghana).

Blockflöjt – Swedish recorder.

Blur - See blul.

Bo – a pair of large Chinese cymbals.

Bobo – 1. Chinese double reed pipe. 2. Pegged drum with antelope skin from Ghana played with hands or hand and stick.

Bodhran or bodhrán - Irish frame drum made out of goat skin, generally played with a double-ended beater or tipper. It is usually 45 cms. (18 inches) and 7.5-10 cms. Deep (4 inches). The rim is usually circular.

Bolombatto - Harp from West Africa with four gut strings over a gourd resonator and an attached tin rattle.

Bolon - A three string bass harp. Its resonating gourd can be used as a drum.  

Boloye - one-string bass from the Ivory Coast.

Bols - Asian vocal percussion.

Bomba - a barrel-shaped drum of Afro-Puerto Rican origin.

Bombarde -  a small Breton clarinet-like reed instrument with its own distinctive sound.

Bombo – 1. a large sheepskin bass drum used in Spain and Spanish America. 2. Afro-Uuruguayan comparsa drum.

Bombo criollo - an adaptation of the Spanish military bass drum, used in Cuba for carnival.

Bombo huilliche - Chilean bass drum.

Bongyi – large Burmese drum.

Bonshe - long Burmese drum.

Bontoe – small Burmese drum.

Boogh - ram’s horn trumpet (Iran).

Booglin - shaman jew's harp from Mongolia.

Boo-sasara - a long, notched stick that is scraped with a smaller stick.

Botija -- A ceramic jug originally used to transport Spanish olive oil, used to provide a bass accompaniment in the Cuban son style.

Botijuela -- See botija.

Bouzouki - a Greek long necked lute with 3 or 4 double courses of metal strings.

Bow - a wooden stick, pointed at one end, and strung with horsehair. The bow is drawn across the strings to generate a tone.

Box – accordion.  

Braguinha - a cavaquinho from Madeira (Portugal).

Brekete - a two-headed round bass drum from Ghana with thin goatskin. It has a thin shell and thin head and is played with sticks.

Brelka - a double reed Russian instrument.

Bubani – a Kosovar Albanian short wooden cylinder covered at each open end with leather stretched with rope. It is played with two wooden drumsticks.

Buchi - See bachi.  

Budongo

Buita - Angolan percussion.

Buk - Tibetan cymbals used by Buddhist monks.

Buk drum - Chinese suspended drum, played vertically by one or two drummers, who also dance as they play the drum. bullroarer- a specially shaped piece of horn or wood attached to a string. The sound is created by swinging it around in circles over the head. By adjusting the speed and length of the string the player can create different pitch and sounds.

Bumb - huge drum from the Braj area in Uttar Pradesh (India). 

Bup - a large Tibetan cymbal.

Buk - Korean drum.

Byat Saung - Burmese harp.

Byaw – Burmese drum. Byoo-daiko – Japanese nailed-head drums.

Last Updated Friday, May 18 2007 @ 12:01 PM EDT|17,857 Hits