| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kora |  | Gambia | A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge like a lute or guitar. The sound of a kora resembles that of a harp, though when played in the traditional style, it bears a closer resemblance to flamenco guitar techniques. The player uses only the thumb and index finger of both hands to pluck the strings in polyrhythmic patterns. Traditional koras feature 21 strings, eleven played by the left hand and ten by the right. The image shows the master kora-maker Alieu Suso of The Gambia. |
| Koto |  | Japan | The koto (琴 or 箏) is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument derived from Chinese Guqins. Koto are about 180 centimetres (71 in) long and have 13 strings that are strung over 13 movable bridges along the length of the instrument. Players can adjust the string pitches by moving these bridges before playing, and use three finger picks (on thumb, forefinger, and middle finger) to pluck the strings. |
| Krar |  | Ethiopia | The krar is a five- or six-stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea. The instrument is tuned to a pentatonic scale. The Krar is plucked with a pitch range that varies depending of the number of strings on the instrument. Krars are skin covered and decorated with wood, cloth, and beads. |
| Krylovidnye Gusli |  | Russia | The krylovidnye gusli is one of the traditional musical instruments from Russia. It is a wing-shaped gusli. It is much smaller than a shlemovidnye gusli, and had more resemblance to Scandinavian folk psalteries such as the kantele. They were held much more like modern guitars, although strings were still muted by the left hand through a special opening in the instrument's body. This modification was more prevalent in northern parts of Russia, especially Novgorod and Pskov. |
| Kutiyapi |  | Philippines | The kutiyapi, also called faglong, fegereng or fuglung, is a Philippine two-stringed, fretted boat-lute. It is the only stringed instrument among the Maguindanaon (a province of the Philippines). It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax. The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as from the jackfruit tree. |
| Langeleik |  | Norway | The langeleik is a traditional stringed musical instrument from Norway. The instrument has one melody string, like a monochord, but it has additional bourdon strings (or drone strings), usually 7 or 8 on modern instruments, but older ones had fewer, most often four bourdon strings. The frets under the melody string are placed such that it can only play a major scale. |
| Laouto |  | Greece | The laouto is a traditional stringed musical instrument from Greece. It began spreading in Rethymnon (the capital of Rethymno Prefecture in the island of Crete) after the 1930s. The laouto has four double sets of strings, which are tuned in fifths (Cc-Gg-Dd-aa ) starting from the bass. The role of the laouto in Greek traditional music is that of accompaniment, either providing the rhythmical values, or following the melody of the song. |
| Lira |  | Ukraine | The lira, or relia, (Ukrainian: ліра) is a variant of the hurdy-gurdy, an instrument which can trace its history back to the 10th century. It is thought that the lira was introduced into Ukraine in the 17th century by Cossacks who had fought in France as mercenary soldiers. It was used as an instrument to accompany religious psalms, kants and epic ballads performed by itinerant blind musicians called lirnyky. The traditional lira has three strings, one on which the melody is played with the aid of a special keyboard, the other two producing a drone of a fifth. The sound is produced by a wooden wheel which is rotated by a crank held in the right hand. This wheel rubs against the strings, setting them into vibration like a bow on a violin. |
| Liuqin |  | China | The liuqin (柳琴) is a four-stringed Chinese lute with a pear-shaped body. It is small in size, almost a miniature copy of another Chinese plucked instrument, the pipa. But the range of its voice is much higher than the pipa, and has its own special place in the Chinese music, whether in orchestral music or in solo pieces. |
| Lute |  | Europe | Lute can generally refer to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back, or a specific instrument from the family of European lutes. The European lute and the Near-Eastern oud both descend from a common ancestor, with diverging evolutionary paths. The lute is used in a great variety of instrumental music from the early renaissance to the late baroque eras. It is also an accompanying instrument, especially in vocal works, often realizing a basso continuo or playing a written-out accompaniment. The image shows a renaissance lute. |
| Lyre |  | Greece | The lyre is a stringed musical instrument well known for its use in Classical Antiquity and later. The recitations of the Ancient Greeks were accompanied by lyre playing. The lyre of Classical Antiquity was ordinarily played by being strummed with a plectrum, like a guitar or a zither, rather than being plucked, like a harp. The fingers of the free hand silenced the unwanted strings in the chord. |
| Mandocello |  | United States | The mandocello (or mandacello) is a musical instrument of the mandolin family. It is similar in general appearance to a mandolin, but is much larger, usually having a scale length of about 25 inches (65 cm), which is similar to that of a guitar. The mandocello has four courses of strings, tuned C'/C G/G d/d a/a. The mandocello is played with a plectrum and is fretted, typically having 23 frets and the pear-shaped body usually allows easy access to the 20th fret, giving the mandocello a range from two octaves below middle C to the F an octave above middle C. |
| Mandola |  | United States | The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Europe, Ireland, and UK) is a fretted stringed musical instrument. The mandola has four double courses for a total of eight strings. The instrument is tuned in fifths, to the pitches of the viola (C-G-D-A low-to-high), a fifth lower than a mandolin; the courses are tuned in unison rather than in octaves. The scale length of the mandola is typically around 16.5 inches (420mm). The mandola is typically played with a plectrum (pick). |
| Mandolin |  | Italy | A mandolin is a musical instrument which is plucked, strummed or a combination of both. It is descended from the mandora. The most common design as originated in Naples, Italy has eight metal strings in four pairs (courses) which are plucked with a plectrum. Variants include four-string (one string per course), six-string (one string per course) as per the Milanese design, twelve-string (three strings per course), and sixteen-string (four string per course). It has a body with a teardrop-shaped soundtable (i.e. face), or one which is essentially oval in shape, with a soundhole, or soundholes, of varying shapes which are open and not latticed. The image shows a F-Style mandolin with hand-rubbed varnish finish. |
| Mandora |  | Ukraine | The mandora or mandore, also known as the gallizona or gallichon, is a type of 6 or 8-course bass lute (possibly a descendant of guiterne and/or chitarra italiana) used mainly for basso continuo, in Germany, Austria and Bohemia, particularly during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The construction of the mandora is similar to other baroque lutes. It has a vaulted body (shell) constructed of separate ribs, a flat soundboard with either a carved rose or one which is inset into the soundhole, and a bridge (without a saddle) consisting of a wooden bar acting as a string-holder glued to the soundboard. The image shows a Ukrainian Cossack with a mandora, c.1750. |
| Masenqo |  | Ethiopia | The masenqo (also spelled masenko or masinqo) is an instrument used by Ethiopian minstrels, or azmaris ("singer" in Amharic). It is a single-string bowed lute. The square- or diamond-shaped resonator is normally covered with parchment or rawhide. The instrument is tuned by means of a large tuning peg. |
| Matouqin |  | Mongolia | The matouqin (Chinese: 馬頭琴; literally "horse-head fiddle") or morin khuur (Mongolian: морин хуур) is a chordophone from Mongolian. It is played with a bow and produces a sound which is poetically described as expansive and unrestrained, like a wild horse neighing, or like a breeze in the grasslands. It is the most important musical instrument of the Mongolian people, and is considered a symbol of the Mongolian nation. The instrument consists of a wooden-framed sound box to which two strings are attached. It is held nearly upright with the sound box in the musician's lap or between the musician's legs. The strings are made from hairs from horses' tails, strung parallel, and run over a wooden bridge on the body up a long neck to the two tuning pegs in the scroll, which is always carved into the form of a horse's head. |
| Moodswinger |  | Germany | The Moodswinger is a custom made string instrument. Although it closely resembles an electric guitar, it is actually a zither, as it has neither frets nor a proper neck. The pickup and electronics are built into the neck instead of in the body like usual electric guitars. In March 2006 the noiseband Liars contacted Yuri Landman to make an instrument for them. After 6 months he finished 2 copies of The Moodswinger, an electric 12-string 3rd bridge overtone zither, one for guitarist/drummer Aaron Hemphill and one for himself. |
| Musical Bow |  | Nigeria | The musical bow is a simple string musical instrument consisting of a string supported by a flexible string bearer, usually made out of wood. Often, it is a normal archery bow used for music rather than as a weapon. The usual way to make the bow sound is to pluck the string, although sometimes a subsidiary bow is used to scrape the string, much as on a violin. Musical bows are still used in a number of cultures today, almost all over the world. The berimbau, a musical bow from Brazil, is quickly gaining players worldwide as a result of its association with the game of capoeira. |
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