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Folk and World Music Instruments

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Kabaro: popular single or double-headed Ethiopian drum. Played with the hands. Also known as kebaro or kebero. 

Kabosy - a short lute in the shape of a box, from Madagascar.

Kader - Breton call singer in the kan ha diskan call and response songs.

Kagura suzu – a hand held bell tree composed of three levels of jingle bells.

Kaiambarambo - a bundle of resonant grasses from Madagascar.

Kajiza – drum (Mozambique).

Kakko - A small, highly ornate, Japanese drum.  

Kamaycha - vertically held string instrument (India). It typically consists of nineteen strings, three of gut for melody, two of brass for drone, and fourteen of steel for sympathetic resonance

Kane - A Japanese gong or large bell.

Kanganu - a tall and narrow barrel drum from Ghana.

Kalimba - African thumb piano. The sound is produced by the vibration of tongues of metal or wood.

 Kamanche - a Persian and Armenian instrument that belongs to the violin family of instruments and while it is almost the size of a violin, it is held upright. It is very popular in traditional Persian music.

Kamanche. Courtesy of Pooyesh. Buy (USD 344.95)

 

Kanjira - single headed tambourine used throughout Southern India.

Kankle - Lithuanian lap-harp.

Kanon – see kanun.

Kanoon - see kanun.

Kanoun - see kanun.

Kanun - A Middle Eastern instrument dating back beyond the time of Christ. This stringed instrument (similar in look to a zither) has a total of 72-75 grouped strings, which are tuned flat and then raised or lowered in small semitone increments using a series of latches.

Kantele - Finnish zither with 40 strings.

Karataky - drum (Madagascar).

Karikary - small bell (Madagascar).

Karinyan - a small ribbed iron pipe that is struck with an iron bar Mali).

Karkabas - metal double castanets of the Gnawa (Morocco).

Katra - rattle (Madagascar).

Katsa - rattle (Madagascar).

Kashu - General term for a Japanese singer.

Kaval – a long, end-blown flute from Bulgaria, Albania, and Macedonia.  It is made in various sizes from 15 to 50 cm in length. It can be made out of different materials: cane, wood, bronze, iron, bone, and plastic.  The kaval is held at a slightly oblique angle toward the right, so that the player's breath will strike the sharply angled lip of the instrument on the opposite side, thus producing sound.

Kawala - an Egyptian bamboo flute played in religious festivals.

Kayagum - a Korean 12-string zither.

Keleli – a two or three string long necked lute from Chad.

Kamanche – a small knee fiddle, bowed like a cello, with four metal strings and four sympathetic strings (Armenia, Iran).

Karamoudza - See Karamudza.

Karamudza - Greek double reed instrument sometimes played in pairs. Also known as pipiza, zounardi and zournas.

Karimba - a 15-key thumb piano from Zimbabwe with a round wooden plate upon which the instrument is mounted and affixed with a semi-circular wooden wall around the instrument to act as an amplifier. It uses a high resonance wooden soundboard upon with a bridge is implanted on the upper part of the instrument. The metal reeds used as sound source are laid over the bridge and using a metal bar. A strand of wire us sued to bind the reeds under the bar. A metal plate, with a bottle cap affixed to it, is mounted on the lower portion of the sound board to provide a rattling sound. The rattle provides the percussive element in the music.

  Kebaro: popular single- or double-headed Ethiopian drum. Played with the hands. Also known as kabaro or kebero. 

Kebero - See kebaro.

Kefafa: See Kaiambarambo .

Kei - large Japanese gongs used in Buddhist ceremonies.  

Kemancheh - See kamanche.

Kemence -

Kena - see quena

Kendang - Balinese drum.

Kenken - the metallic bell attached to a dunun drum.

Kete drums – a set of four drums from the Ashanti region in Ghana.  

Khan Be - The khan be is a sixteen reed bamboo mouth organ native to the Isaan people of northeastern Thailand and Laos. It can also be found in regions of the highlands of northwest and south central Vietnam (Courtesy of Khac Chi).

Khartal - a pair of lightweight rectangular wooden blocks played by the hands (India).

Khomus - Tuvan jew's harp.

Khöömei - Tuvan name for overtone and throat singing.

Kidi - Ewe stick drum (Ghana).

Kiroba - `Are`are music for sound play on water.  

Kissar - Egyptian box lyre.

Ki un Ki - A wind instrument used by the Siberian tribe of the Udegeys. It is a two meter long stalk. The tone is by inhaling and the instrument has no finger holes so the pitch can only be altered by lip pressure.

Klapites - Latvian clapper.

Klarino - Greek clarinet.

Kloboto - short open-bottom barrel drum from Ghana. The Totodzi is smaller than the Kloboto.  

K'longput - The k'longput is another instrument unique to Vietnam. It is made from a series of large bamboo pipes of varying lengths, each closed at one end. The pipes are placed on their sides with the open ends facing the musician, who has no direct contact with the instrument. Instead, the performer cups both hands and claps quietly in front of the open ends of the pipes, forcing air down the pipes to produce low resonant sounds. The k'longput is native to the Bahnar people of the central highlands, who are said to have created it after hearing the wind blowing into the openings of bamboo in the forest (Courtesy of Khac Chi).

Koboz: See Kopuz.

Kobsa - plucked lute.

Kobuz - See Kopuz.

Kobyz - See Kopuz.

Ko-daiko - a small Japanese drum.

Kokle - Latvian lap zither.

Koko - wooden clappers of the Mbuti people (Central African Pygmies).  

Koliosnaya lira - Russian hurdy gurdy.

Komun-go - Korean six-string zither.

Komuz - a three stringed lute from Kyrgyzstan

Konghou - Chinese harp.  

Koni - a small traditional four-stringed lute in the form of a teardrop (Gambia). Also known as ngoni in Mali.

Ko ni - The ko ni is a special form of stick fiddle found only in Vietnam. It was developed from the one-string violin of the Jarai people who live in the south central highlands of Vietnam. The modern ko ni has two strings. The player sits, holding the instrument between both legs. The ko ni does not have a resonating chamber or sound box. Rather, the strings are attached by silk cords to a small bamboo or plastic resonating disc that is held in the player's mouth. The player's mouth acts as the resonating chamber, and precise movements of the lips and tongue create a broad range of tonal colors and emotional expressions, giving the ko ni its unique sound (Courtesy of Khac Chi).

Kono - strummed lute (Ghana).  

Kontingo - West African lute. Also known as xalam, halam, ngoni and koni.

Kontra - See Contra.

Kopuz - a Central Asian Turkic short lute.

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Kora - a West African harp lute with 19 strings, popular in Gambia, Senegal and Mali. It has a skin stretched across a large gourd, a wooden neck and gut or nylon fishwire strings stretched across a tall bridge. It is played in a similar way to a harp.

• Cora Connection introduces the music of West Africa. The site name comes from the kora and the band led by kora musician David Gilden. Teachers, students, and world music lovers can discover the cultural riches of West Africathe musicians and their traditional instruments, and countries.

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Korholt - short German Renaissance reed instrument.

Korintsana - Malagasy rattle or shaker, usually made from either a sealed bamboo tube or a tin can on a stick, filled with dried beans.

Korng tauch - small Cambodian gong circle.  

Korng thomm- large Cambodian gong circle.

Koryaga - a one stringed instrument with a string fixed on a curved branch of a tree. The sound is made by a violin bow or plucked, and the notes are changed with the use of a wire bent over the branches' ends. It was created at the end of the 20th century by Moscow designer Uri Balashov.

Kosha kosha - rattle from Mozambique.

Koto – a 13 string Japanese zither of Chinese origin. It is the longest of the long zithers of East Asiaabout 1.8 meters (6 feet) long. The instrument is laid horizontally with waxed silken strings stretched tightly over movable bridges along the length of the instrument. The koto is plucked using ivory picks called tsumen.  

• Koto/Shamisen Summer Camp in Colorado by Yoko Hiraoka

Kotsuzumi - small Japanese hand drum.

Kpanlogo - barrel drum with pegs from Ghana, with an antelope skin drum head.

Kpoko-Kpoko - Double ended wooden bell rattle (Nigeria).

Krar - a six-string bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia.

K'rkbs - See karkabas.

Ksink-Ksink – See seke-seke.

Kucheng - a 16 or 21-stringed zither. It is currently the most popular plucked traditional Chinese instrument on Taiwan.

Kugikly - Russian reed panpipe. 

Kultrun - sacred Mapuche (Native Chilean Indians) drum.

Kum - Korean seven-stringed zither used in court music.

Kumi-daiko – a Japanese taiko drum ensemble.

Kundu - hourglass shaped drum from Papua New Guinea.

Kupurra – drum from Mozambique.

Kurai - a long Bashkir flute made out of grass. (Russia)

Kuri-nuki-daiko - a Japanese drum carved from a log.

Kurukutu -  a small hourglass Hausa (Ghana) drum with goat skin and a gut snare. It is played with two leather sticks.

Kutiriba - a medium-sized Mandinka (Gambia and Senegal) drum. It is played with one hand and a short stick. The top is covered with goat skin.

Kutirindingo - a small Mandinka drum. It is played with one hand and a short stick. The top is covered with goat skin.  

Kyey Naung – Burmese brass gong.

Kyey Se – Burmese triangular gong.

Kyl-kyjak - a Kyrgyz two-string fiddle with a bow made out of horsehairs. Kkyl-kyjak was widely played by performers who often acted as a one actor theater, producing the whole range of sounds of nature and humans. 

 

Last Updated Friday, May 28 2004 @ 04:02 PM EDT|22,506 Hits