Iakitxá – A meter-long indigenous trumpet played by the Fulnios Indians of Pernambuco. Brazil.
Ibeka – Thumb piano of the Kalai (Bakelle) people. Gabon.
Icheche – Igede shakers made from woven straw and leather that are filled with pebbles. Nigeria.
Ichigenkin – Smallest of the Japanese kotos. It has one string stretched over a slender plank of wood as a soundboard.
Icyembe – A long wooden box with acoustic strings. Rwanda.
Ideh – large seeds attached to a grass band. They are used as an arm or leg rattle). Also known as Idi. Nigeria.
Idiophones – instruments whose bodies themselves vibrate, such as rattles, xylophones, bells, gongs, and other instruments that are struck or rubbed. Idiophones can be tuned or untuned. Variations: anvil, bell, cowbell, cymbal, gong, triangle, wood block, xylophone.
Ieta – A small 7-stringed harp of the Baka forest people from southeast Cameroon.
Ievina – Latvian accordion.
Igba – Short peg-tuned drum with the head made out of antelope skin. It is slung from the shoulder and played with a curved stick. Nigeria.
Igil – two-stringed fiddle from Tuva with a carved wooden horses’ head attached to the top of the neck. Modern versions feature three strings. It is played vertically, while sitting on the ground or on a chair. Russian federation.
Ijachi – An Igede iron spear identified with warrior musical groups. Clappers attached to the spear vibrate as it is plunged repeatedly into the ground. Nigeria.
Ikh khuur – Mongolian double bass.
Ikili – Two-stringed Altai musical instrument played by strumming the strings. The neck and the lute-shaped sound box are made of a solid piece of pine or larch. Legend has it that the strings come from the hair of the fastest horses. The sound is reminiscent of the whistling of the wind over the steppe. For centuries, people in Altai have believed that the ikili has magical powers. The instrument is said to be able to calm the spirits of the taiga. Altai Republic, Russian Federation.
Ikko – A highly decorated goblet shaped drum. Japan.
Ilapai – Trumpet played by indigenous tribes in the Amazon region. Brazil.
Ilimba – Thumb piano. Tanzania.
Ilu – Tall drum used in Bahian candombles. Brazil.
Imzad Small one-stringed fiddle; the symbol of Tuareg society, performed exclusively by women. The imzad is made from half a calabash or from a wooden bowl that is covered in goatskin and to which is also attached a neck that supports one string of horsehair. The imzad players were greatly renowned and could play many melodies, those evoking past events or the high deeds of a hero whose name they bore by the richness of their variations; they could also accompany a man’s singing and, on occasion, also displayed therapeutic powers by curing melancholy and apathy. Good players of the imzad are today becoming ever rarer, and its repertoire is inexorably becoming smaller. (source: Tartit)
Ingone – Large sacred drum used in xango ceremonies on Recife. Brazil.
Inanga – Trough zither of Central/Eastern Africa. Read more about the inanga.
Ingoma – Cylindrical drum covered with a membrane of animal skin. Burundi.
Inkiranya – Large ceremonial drum. Burundi.
Instrument – Any device that produces a musical sound.
Ishaka – Ibo gourd shaker with three different types of natural seed nets. Nigeria.
Ipu – A single Hawaiian gourd drum made in two sizes for dancers of both the ancient and modern hulas.USA.
Ipu heke – A Hawaiian drum made of two gourds of unequal size which are attached at the necks. A hole is left in open on the top of the upper gourd, and the two are joined by breadfruit gum. The musician sits on the ground, hold the ipu in his left hand and with a kapa or twine loop and plays rhythms on it with his right hand.
Itones – a pair of wooden sticks used in Afro-Cuban music.
Itótele – The middle drum in the set of three batá drums. Cuba.
Iworo – Igede leg rattles worn by dancers. They are made from the large seeds of the ochichingbo vine. Nigeria.
Iyá – The largest of the set of three batá drums. It is believed to communicate directly with the orishas during sacred ceremonies. Cuba.
Iyailu – The lead drum of the dundun. Nigeria.
Iyesá – A set of four sacred two-headed drums made of hand-carved cedar from Matanzas. They are played with sticks. Cuba.
Izeze – A spike lute of the Wagogo people. Izezes are configured for varying numbers of strings, ranging from one string to fourteen strings. Tanzania.
