| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ennanga |  | Uganda | Ennanga is an open harp developed by the people of Uganda. It has a neck and a resonator with a string holder but lack a supporting pillar to complete the triangle. In the ennanga harp, scales of a kind of goana are fixed on the instrument in such a way that the vibrating strings will touch it. This gives a crackling timbre to the sound. The ennanga has only eight strings, so parallel octaves can only be played within a restricted interval. The ennanga harp is used in the courtly music of the Kabaka, the king of Buganda. |
| Erhu |  | China | The erhu (Chinese: 二胡), also called nanhu (南胡, literally "southern fiddle"), and sometimes known in the West as the "Chinese violin" or "Chinese two-string fiddle," is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular instrument in the huqin (胡琴) family of Chinese bowed string instruments, together with the zhonghu (中胡), gaohu (高胡), banhu (板胡), jinghu (京胡), sihu (四胡), and numerous others. |
| Esraj |  | India | The esraj (also called israj) is a string instrument found in two forms throughout the north, central, and east regions of India. It is a young instrument by Indian terms, being only about 200 years old. The dilruba is found in the north, where it is used in religious music and light classical songs in the urban areas. Its name is translated as "robber of the heart." The esraj is found in the east and central areas, particularly Bengal, as well as Bangladesh, and it is used in a somewhat wider variety of musical styles than is the dilruba. The esraj is mostly used as an accompanying instrument. It is the accompanying instrument of choice for Rabindra Sangeet singing. However, it has also been used as a solo instrument to interpret Hindustani Classical Music, mostly in the Vishnupur tradition. |
| Fiddle |  | Sweden | The term fiddle refers to a violin when used in folk music. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music. Fiddle playing, or fiddling, is a style of music. In construction, fiddles and violins are exactly the same. To a greater extent than classical violin playing, fiddle playing is characterized by a huge variety of ethnic or folk music traditions, each of which has its own distinctive sound. The photo shows "Hins-Anders" painted by Anders Zorn, 1904. |
| Gadulka |  | Bulgaria | The Gadulka (Bulgarian: Гъдулка) is a folk Bulgarian string musical instrument played with a bow. There are two types of gadulkas; the most common has three or sometimes four main strings, with many lesser strings, and a smaller variant in the Dobruja region has only the three main strings. The gadulka is played vertically, and the bow held horizontally with the hair facing the player. The gadulka is an important instrument in the traditional Bulgarian Horo round dances. |
| Gaohu |  | China | The gaohu (高胡, also called yuehu 粤胡) is a Chinese bowed string instrument used in playing traditional Guangdong Cantonese music and operas. It belongs to the huqin family of instruments, together with the zhonghu, erhu, banhu, jinghu, and sihu, its name means "high pitched huqin". It has two strings and its soundbox is covered on the front (playing) end with snakeskin. |
| Gayageum |  | Korea | A gayageum is a traditional Korean zither-like string instrument, with 12 strings, although more recently variants have been constructed with 21 or other numbers of strings. It draws its name from the ancient Korean confederacy of Gaya, where it is said to have been invented. It is probably the best known traditional Korean musical instrument. The ancient gayageum of King Gashil was called by several names, including beopgeum (law-zither, 법금), pungnyu (elegance, 풍류), or jeong-ak (right music, 정악) gayageum. It is normally associated with court music, chamber music, and lyric songs, for which it provides the accompaniment. |
| Ghaychak |  | Iran | The Ghaychak or Ghijak is a round-bodied musical instrument with 3 or 4 metal strings and a short fretless neck. It is used by Iranians, Afghans, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmens and Qaraqalpaks. It is also known as a Kamancha (Kamancheh), an important instrument in Iranian and Azeri classical music and popular music in Iran. The soundbox is carved out of a single piece of wood. The upper orifice is partly covered in the middle by the handle and the lower one is covered by a skin membrane against which rest the bridge. |
| Gimbri |  | North Africa | A gimbri is a lute-like instrument, originating from North Africa. The box-like body has a skin stretched over it, with the bridge held against the skin by string tension. The strings pass through a hole and then into the back of the body. The strings are made of sheep gut, and are tuned by adjusting leather bands on the neck. Some versions of the instrument have metal bells or rattles attached to the top of the neck, which jingle when the instrument is played. It is also known as a sentir, sintir and guimbri. |
| Greek Baglama |  | Greece | The Greek baglama is a half-sized version of the bouzouki. It has a small body, with a bowl, that is either made from staves or carved from solid wood. The neck is fretted, with the fret spacing corresponding to the notes of Western music. It has three pairs of strings, of which the higher two pairs are tuned in unison to D and A, and an octave pair tuned to D. The high pitched sound of the baglama is often very prominent in Pireas style Rembetika. |
| Gudok |  | Russia | A gudok (also hudok)(Russian and Ukrainian - гудок) is an ancient Eastern Slavic string musical instrument, which was played with a bow. A gudok usually had three strings, with two of them were tuned in unison, and the third tuned a fifth higher. All three strings were in the same plane at the bridge, so that a bow could make them all sound simultaneously (unlike a violin, where only 2 strings can be played at once). Sometimes the gudok also had several sympathetic strings (up to eight) under the soundboard. These made the gudok's sound warm and rich. The player held the gudok on his lap, like a cello or viola da gamba. It was also possible to play the gudok while standing and even while dancing, which made it popular among skomorokhs. |
| Guitar Zither |  | United States | The guitar zither (or harp zither) is a musical instrument consisting of a soundbox, with two sets of unstopped strings. One set of strings is tuned to the diatonic scale and the other set is tuned to make the various chords in the key of the diatonic strings. The guitar zither came into use in the 19th Century, and was widely mass-produced in the United States and in Germany. A form of psaltery, the guitar zither is closely related to the Autoharp. It differs from the concert zither in not having a fret board. The name guitar zither is apparently derived from its sound, as the concert zither is more closely related to the guitar, in performance method, and in physical form, than is the guitar zither. The image shows a fretless Musima guitar zither with 21 melody strings and 24 chord strings. |
| Guqin |  | China | Guqin (Chinese: 古琴) is a plucked seven-string long narrow Chinese zither with very smooth top surface. It has been played since ancient times. It is sometimes referred to by the Chinese as 「國樂之父/国乐之父」, meaning "the father of Chinese music" or 「聖人之噐/圣人之器」, meaning "the instrument of the sages." It can also be called qixianqin (七絃琴, meaning "seven-stringed instrument"). The guqin is not to be confused with the guzheng, another Chinese long zither also without frets, but with moveable bridges under each string. The image shows the famous painting "Ting Qin Tu" (聽琴圖, Listening to the Qin), by the Song emperor Huizong (1082–1135). |
| Gusle |  | Serbia | Gusle, or gusla, is a Serbian national stringed instrument usually made of maple wood. It is a single-stringed musical instrument used in the Balkans and on the Dinarides area. The gusle is typically used to accompany the voice of a player (called a guslar) telling and/or singing an epic story or legend. The image shows a part of monument dedicated to solders of Battle of Kosovo which was made by Djordje Jovanovic in 1904, located in Krusevac, Serbia. |
| Gusli |  | Russia | The Gusli (Russian: гусли, Ukrainian: гуслі, husli) is an ancient generic Slavic term for a stringed musical instrument. The term and its derivatives is used for either a plucked psaltery or zither-like instrument or for the violin or bowed equivalents. Originally the instrument had gut strings made from pig entrails. In recent times concert versions of the instrument have steel strings. |
| Guzheng |  | China | The guzheng, or gu zheng (Chinese: 古箏) or zheng (箏) (gu-, 古 means "ancient") is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It belongs to the zither family of string instruments. The guzheng is the parent instrument of the Japanese koto, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum, and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The guzheng should not to be confused with the guqin, another ancient Chinese zither but without bridges. The modern-day guzheng is a plucked, half-tube zither with movable bridges and 21 strings, although it can have anywhere from 15 to 25 strings (a customized version exists with more than 44 strings). The image shows a modern guzheng. |
| Haegum |  | Korea | The haegeum is a traditional Korean string instrument, resembling a fiddle. It has a rodlike body supporting two silk strings and is held vertically on the knee of the performer and played with a bow. The haegeum is related to similar Chinese instruments in the huqin family of instruments, such as the erhu. Of these, it is most closely related to the ancient xiqin, as well as the erxian used in nanguan and Cantonese music. |
| Hardanger Fiddle |  | Norway | A Hardanger fiddle (or in Norwegian: hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument used originally to play the music of Norway. In modern designs, the instruments are very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings and thinner wood. Four of the strings are strung and played like a violin, while the rest, aptly named understrings or sympathetic strings, resonate under the influence of the other four, providing a pleasant haunting, echo-like sound. The Hardingfele is used for dancing, accompanied by rhythmic loud foot stomping. It was also traditional for the fiddler to lead the bridal procession to the church. |
| Harp |  | Egypt | The harp is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. All harps have a neck, resonator and strings. Some, known as frame harps, also have a forepillar; those lacking the forepillar are referred to as open harps. The oldest depictions of harps are from 4000 BCE in Egypt and 3000 BCE in Persia. The image shows a double-strung harp. It consists of two rows of diatonic strings one on either side of the neck. |
| Harp Guitar |  | Italy | The harp guitar is a stringed instrument with an incredibly rich history of well over two centuries. It is defined as "A guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking." Additionally, in reference to these instruments, the word "harp" is now a specific reference to the unstopped open strings, and is not specifically a reference to the tone, pitch range, volume, silhouette similarity, construction, floor-standing ability, nor any other alleged "harp-like" properties. To qualify in this category, an instrument must have at least one unfretted string lying off the main fretboard. Further, the unfretted strings can be, and typically are, played as an open string. |
| Harpsichord |  | Germany | A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when each key is depressed. The harpsichord was widely used in Baroque music. It became less popular following the invention of the piano, but is still used in contemporary music due to its distinctive sound. |
| Hudok |  | Ukraine | Hudok (Ukrainian: Гудок) is an ancient Ukrainian string musical instrument, which was played with a bow. It name comes from the word "to make noise, or to hum or buzz". A Hudok usually had 3 strings: 2 of them were played as a drone whereas the 3rd was tuned one fifth higher. All 3 strings were placed in the same plane, so a bow could make them all sound simultaneously. The Hudok is held in the lap of the player like in a cello or viola da gamba. It can date back its history to the 12th century. |
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