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Folk and World Music Instruments

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Nagado-daiko - long-bodied Japanese drum.

Nai - panpipes of Romania with a row of 20 pipes, of different lengths and diameters. Nangara - an Indian two-piece drum played with sticks.

Nao – a pair of large Chinese cymbals.  

Naqqara - North African kettledrums played in pairs.

Naqqarat - See Naqqara.

Naqus- small Egyptian cymbals.

Narimono - Japanese term for small, handheld percussion instruments.

Native American flute – an end-blown block flute.

Nay - see Ney.

N'der - a solo Wolof long drum, with open bottom, used in a sabar drum set (Senegal).  

Ndingidi -Ugandan one stringed fiddle.

Ndomu- Pygmy bow harp (Central Africa).  

Ndongo - eight-stringed lyre of Uganda.

Negarit - Ethiopian kettledrum, played with sticks.

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Ney - Middle Eastern flute. The Ney, which is probably the oldest pitched instrument known to man, is an oblique rim blown reed flute with five finger holes in front and one thumb hole in the back. One of the principle instruments of Traditional Persian Music, the ney has a range of two and a half octaves. The upper end is covered by a short brass cylinder which is anchored in the tiny space between the upper incisives of the player. Sound is produced when a stream of air is directed by the tongue toward the opening of the instrument. In this way, sound is produced behind the upper teeth, inside the mouth, which gives the ney a distinct timbre than that of the sound produced by the lips on the outside of the mouth.

Ney. Courtesy of Pooyesh. Buy (USD 54.00)

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Ney-anbon - Iranian bagpipe. Earliest-known bagpipe, originating thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia.

Ney-hindi - Indian flute played in Iran.

Nga chen - large pan-like bass drums used by Tibetan monks in Buddhist rites. They are struck by curved drumsticks.

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

Ngombi - a stringed instrument from the Baka forest people of southeast Cameroon and the Central African Republic. The strings are made from fibers that run the length of a bamboo stem. If a string breaks, another can be separated from the body of the instrument. It is also known as the arched harp.

Nihumbe – drum from Mozambique.

Njarka - one-string violin used in Malian music.

Njurkle - monochord guitar used in Malian music.

N'koni - drum from Mozambique.

Nlapa – a Malagasy hourglass-shaped one-headed drum.

Nohkan - A Japanese bamboo flute with a three octave range.

Northumbrian smallpipes - an English bellows blown bagpipe with a small cylindrical closed-end chanter, and 3 or 4 drones.

Nsansi – a thumb piano from Mozambique.

Nyanyero – a Gambian one-string violin.

Nyatiti - Kenyan harp.

Nyunga nyunga - See Karimba.

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Nyckelharpa - keyed fiddle used throughout Scandinavia and N. Germany. The modern nyckelharpa has 16 strings- e melodic, one drone and 12 sympathetic. It has 37 wooden keys arranged to slide under the strings. The player uses a short bow with the right hand and pushes the keys wit the left.

Links:

• Early Patches - Nyckelharpa
• How to Build a Nyckelharpa
• The Nyckelharpa
• The Dissemination of the Nyckelharpa

Portals

• Nyckelharpa
• Nyckelharpan

Instrument makers

• Björn Björn
  

Associations

• American Nyckelharpa Association

Last Updated Wednesday, April 05 2006 @ 09:01 PM EDT|17,655 Hits