Yoke lutes, commonly called lyres, are a class of
string instrument
In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners.
Musicians play some ...
s, subfamily of
lutes, indicated with the codes
321.21 and
321.22 in the
Hornbostel–Sachs classification.
Description
Yoke lutes are defined as instruments with one or more
strings, arranged parallel to the
sound board and attached to a
yoke
A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, used in dif ...
lying on the same plane as the sound table, composed of two arms and a crosspiece.
All of the instruments of the ancient Greek lyre family were played by
strumming the strings, but modern African lyres are most often
plucked; a few yoke lutes are played with a
bow.
[
The sound box can be either bowl-shaped (321.21) or box-shaped (321.22). In the first case, the resonator is often a turtle shell, while the sound board is made of leather.][ In the second case, usually both the body and the sound board are made of wood.][
]
Examples
Examples of yoke lutes are the lyre, the '' kithara'', the '' barbiton'', and the '' phorminx'' from Ancient Greece, and the biblical '' kinnor'', all of which were strummed instruments, with the fingers dampening the unwanted notes in the chord.
Africa has continuous living traditions of yoke lutes, most of which are plucked, among them the '' begena'', '' endongo'', '' kissar'', '' krar'', '' litungu'', '' nyatiti'', '' obokano'', '' simsimiyya'', and '' tanbūra''. Scandinavia Finland/Karelia and England also have a bowed yoke-luke tradition in the Crwth, Jouhikko and Talharpa.
Contrary examples
However, there are other instruments called "lyra" or "lira" which, from an organological point of view, do not belong to this family; they are instead handle lutes. For example: The Byzantine lyra, the Calabrian lira, the Cretan lyra, the '' lira da braccio'', and the lyra viol.
References
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