African harps, particularly arched or "bow" harps, are found in several

Sub-Saharan African music traditions In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the use of music is not limited to entertainment: it serves a purpose to the local community and helps in the conduct of daily routines. Traditional African music supplies appropriate music and dance for work ...

, particularly in the north-east. Used from early times in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, they resemble the form of harps in ancient Egypt with a vaulted body of wood, parchment faced, and a neck, perpendicular to the resonant face, on which the strings are wound.

Ancient Egyptian harps

The oldest depictions of harps without a forepillar can be seen adjacent to the Near East, in the wall paintings of

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian tombs in the

Nile Valley The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...

, which date from as early as 3000 BCE. These murals show an instrument that closely resembles the hunter's bow, without the pillar that we find in modern harps. The oldest depictions of harps in Africa date back to the 4th Dynasty of Egypt (around 2500 BC). They represent the already fully developed type of bowed harp with a short spade or shovel-shaped resonance box, which presumably dates back to the 1st dynasty (beginning of the 3rd millennium) and is an independent Egyptian development. Curt Sachs (1928) recognizes the

musical bow The musical bow (bowstring or string bow, a subset of bar zithers) is a simple string instrument used by a number of African peoples as well as Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It consists of a flexible, usually wooden, stick 1.5 to 10 feet ...

as the starting point in the gently curved arch of the man-high ancient Egyptian harp , whose attached resonating body was adapted to the lower end of the string carrier and from whose ceiling instead of one string several strings now appear in one plane up to the upper area of the support rod. Towards the end of the Second Intermediate Period (around 1600 BC), new forms of harp appeared, above all the naviforme large bow harp, a head-high standing harp with a long, slender body that only gradually merges into the string carrier. In the Theban tomb TT367, which is dated to the reign of Amenophis II (second half of the 15th century BC), there is also a transportable, smaller, deep-arched harp of the singers (shoulder harp) and, for the first time, a small

angular harp Angular harp is a category of musical instruments in the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification. It describes a harp in which "the neck makes a sharp angle with the resonator," the two arms forming an "open" harp. The harp ...

. The latter supplanted the ancient Egyptian bowed harps, which continued to exist at best in folk music or in surrounding areas. The Egyptian angular harp later made its way to West Africa, where it survived in the form of the Mauritanian ardin. The angular harp also appears further south, such as the angular harp used by the Efe people of the Democratic Republic of Cong

The portable shoulder harp played in the New Kingdom had a slender boat-shaped body and a strongly curved neck. According to Klaus Wachsmann's (1964) theory, portable bowed harps gradually made their way from Egypt up the Nile to East Africa and, branching off from this route, also to Central and West Africa. In the south, their range hardly extends beyond the equator. It includes Uganda, the center of African bowed harps. Here, in the middle of the 20th century, 12 of 25 ethnic groups had their own harp tradition. Harps also come from the north and north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur in Sudan, South Sudan , Gabon , the Central African Republic and north Cameroonbefore. In West Africa they are restricted to areas south of Lake Chad. According to the different ways of attaching the truss rod to the body, Wachsmann differentiates between three main types of African bowed harps, which allow conclusions to be drawn about their distribution routes. File:Bow harp ca. 2030–1640 B.C., Egypt, Middle Kingdom.jpg, Harp from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, Middle Kingdom, with soundboard-skin gone. The wooden bar that the strings were tied to is visible, as are the pegs on the neck. File:Egyptian harp.jpg, Egyptian harp in the British Museum, from the Tomb of Ani (Thebes).

New Kingdom New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

18th dynasty The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVIII, alternatively 18th Dynasty or Dynasty 18) is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty ...

. File:Britannica Harp Egyptian Harp Variety.png, Picture shown variety of Egyptian harps. File:Egyptian vertical harp, kneeling harper.jpg, Egyptian vertical harp, kneeling harper File:Harp from the New Kingdom.jpg, Arched harp, New Kingodom File:A Musical Entertainment (1878) - TIMEA.jpg, Egyptian spade-shaped harp File:PSM V40 D492 Various forms of egyptian harps.jpg, Picture with multiple Egyptian harps File:Harp MET LC-25 3 306 EGDP026451.jpg, Harp, Late Second Intermediate Period–early

, Dynasty 17–18. Naviform harp, shoulder harp. File:Arched Harp (shoulder harp) MET DP302724.jpg, Egyptian harp, New Kingdom, 18th dynasty File:Tomb chapel of paätenemheb (RMO Leiden egypt saqqara 1333-1307bc) (3970065130).jpg, bow harp File:Arpa Angular (s. X-VIII aC) modified.jpg, Egyptian angle harp. Angular harp (10th to 8th century BC) File:Harp MET 58935.jpg, Vertical harp, MET, Harp 664–332 B.C., Late Period, Dynasty 26–30. Wood, paint traces. File:Relief harpist Weigall.jpg, angular harp File:Medamoud procession d.jpg, angular harp

Ardin

The ardin is a type of

played in

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

. It has a resonating body made of

calabash Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean, New Guinea butter bean, Tasmania bean, and opo squash, is a vine grown for its fruit. It can be either harvest ...

, with 10 to 16 strings and metal rings affixed to the top of the neck, and a skin belly. It is played by female

griots A griot (; ; Manding: or (in N'Ko: , or in French spelling); also spelt Djali; or / ; ) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. Griots are masters of communicating stories and history orally, w ...

. The neck sits loosely in the calabash bowl, held in place by the strings. The skin belly can be drummed while the strings are being plucked. The strings act as

jingles A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

. File:20150705-TFF-Rudolstadt-Noura-Mint-Seymali-7444.jpg,

Noura Mint Seymali Noura Mint Seymali is a Mauritanian griot, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist. Early life Noura Mint Seymali was born in Mauritania to parents Dimi Mint Abba and Seymali Ould Ahmed Vall. Both parents were important musical figures in Maur ...

playing the ardin.

Adungu

:''See'' Adungu The a'dungu, also called the ekidongo or ennenga, is a

stringed musical 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 so ...

of the

Alur people Alur are a Nilotic ethnic group who live in northwestern Uganda and northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They are part of the larger Luo group. In Uganda, they live mainly in the Nebbi, Zombo, Pakwach and Arua districts, whil ...

of northwestern

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. It is an

arched harp Arched harps is a category in the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system for musical instruments, a type of harp. The instrument may also be called bow harp. With arched harps, the neck forms a continuous arc with the body and has an open gap ...

of varying dimensions, ranging from seven to ten string or more. The instrument is made of a hollowed-out slab of wood, which is covered by two pieces of leather, woven together in the center. The upper piece of leather functions as a soundboard, and a wooden rib supports it, serving also as a structure to secure the strings to the soundboard. A curved wooden neck, containing a tuning peg for each .note, is inserted into the end of the instrument's body. The strings run diagonally from the tuning pegs in the neck to the rib in the center of the body. Tuning is not standardized, and players will usually tune by ear to each other shortly before a performance. The a'dungus are not in a particular key, and the

tonality Tonality is the arrangement of pitch (music), pitches and / or chord (music), chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived ''relations'', ''stabilities'', ''attractions'', and ''directionality''. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or ...

can be adapted to the preferences of the performers. File:Three Adungu Harps.jpg, Uganda. Three sizes: adungu, ekidongo, or ennenga. The large adungu creates an incredibly rich, bass sound. File:RB 20200123 Kisoro-213.jpg, Adungu player in Kisoro/Uganda

Enanga

The ennanga, nanga, nnanga or enanga is a type of arched harp played by the

Ganda people The Baganda (endonym: ''Baganda''; singular ''Muganda''), are a Bantu ethnic group native to Buganda, a subnational kingdom within Uganda. Traditionally composed of 52 clans (although since a 1993 survey, only 46 are officially recognised), th ...

. The

sound box A sound box or sounding box (sometimes written soundbox) is an open chamber in the body of a musical instrument which modifies the sound of the instrument, and helps transfer that sound to the surrounding air. Objects respond more strongly to vibr ...

is made of a single piece of wood and roughly hemispherical. The top of the box is a stretched resonant membrane made of

antelope The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...

skin, tied to a piece of hide at the bottom of the box. The neck is attached to the inside of the box, exits through a small round opening on the membrane, and curves upward for about 60 to 70 cm. Seven or eight strings are attached to a piece of wood inside the box, and extend through the skin to tuning pegs inserted along the neck. Sometimes small metallic rattling pieces are attached to the pegs, to color the sound. It is usually used to accompany men's singing. File:Ennanga, 19th century, Ganda people.png, Ennanga, 19th century, Ganda people File:Ennanga, 19th century, instrument of the Ganda people.png, Ennanga, 19th century, instrument of the Ganda people Abalanga (harpist) are skilled performers and composers who work within a very structured paradigm to ensure that no two abalanga performances are the same.

Kundi

The kundi is the five-string harp of the Azande and related people of Central Africa. It is an instrument traditionally played by young men and boys. A similar type of harp played by the . The instruments are well known for their ornately carved heads. The instrument has generally fallen from popularity, though in 1993 some older players were recorded on the album ''Central African Republic: music of the former Bandia courts''. File:Harpe Zande-Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale.jpg, Azande ''kundi'' harp, from the Royal Museum for Central Africa. File:Brooklyn Museum 31.1810a-f Harp with Removable Pegs Kundi.jpg, Kundi. Part of the Mangbetu culture, made in Ubangi or Uele region,

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. File:Richard Buchta - Harp Player of the Azandeh, from The History of Mankind by Prof. Friedrich Ratzel, Pub.1904.jpg, Zande harp player File:Richard Buchta - Zande men with shields, harp.jpg, Azande harper, 1877–80 File:Mangbetu Harfe 02 Museum Rietberg.jpg, 1850-1900,

Mangbetu people The Mangbetu are a Central Sudanic ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, living in the northeastern province of Haut-Uele. Culture The Mangbetu are known for their highly developed art and music. One instrument associated with ...

. File:Zande-Harpe anthropomorphe-Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale.jpg, Oval style ''kundi''. Azande people. File:PA067070 Finely carved Harp with snake skin, Mangbetu people, DRC (10202457845).jpg, Sudan, Mangbetu people, intricately carved ''domu'' harp with snake skin.

Ombi

Gabon and Guinea have a harp called ombi or ngombi. The instrument has between 4 and 8 stings, originally made of plant fiber. Instead of winding a peg to tighten the strings, the instrument had immovable pegs, with the strings being wound around them. The body of the instrument is shaped like a trough and has a skin belly. The instrument is played by holding it against the body with the wrists and plucked. File:Gabon, harp, 19th century.png, alt=Gabon, harp, 19th century, 19th century ''Ngombi'' arched harp, Gabon. File:182 Museu de la Música, el Bosc.jpg, Ngombi. Equatorial Guinea. First half 20th century. Barcelona Music Museum. File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Boogharp met 10 snaren TMnr 5633-113.jpg, Harp from the Fang culture of Gabon.

Gallery

file:Ekomyndongharpist.jpg, Gabonese harp played by Lord Ekomy Ndong, a Gabonese Hip-Hop musician File:Afrikaabteilung in Ethnological Museum Berlin 52.JPG, An arched harp of the Mbaka people, from the

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Harp met kalebas-klankkast TMnr 4646-2.jpg, The ''Loma'' or belly harp has the appearance of an angle harp or

lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...

. However it is a frame zither. File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Harp-luit TMnr A-11006.jpg, This is not strictly a harp, but a harp-lute. West Africa. File:Kora (African lute instrument).jpg, Kora. Another instrument between a harp and lute. File:InstrumentistesNord2.jpg, Harp in Cameroon File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Boogharp met 10 snaren TMnr 5633-113.jpg, Democratic Republic of the Congo. 10 stringed harp. Does not fit the 3 harp types. File:Harp - Collection des instruments de musique du Baron d'Erlanger.jpg, Tunisia. File:Biram harp.jpg, Biram, an African bow harp of the Boudouma people in Eastern Niger. Boubou Hama National Museum. May also be the same as a Yom biBagirmi in which the strings run from the arched neck to a metal plate in the body.

Bow harps, three types according to Wachsmann

Organologists have analyzed the way African bow harps are put together and found three basic types.

Spoon in the cup, type 1

In the "spoon in a cup" type, the lower end of the curved neck (string carrier) lies loosely on the edge of the flat, bowl-shaped body and protrudes to about the middle of the bottom. At the height of the integument, a rod serving as a suspension bar for the strings is inserted into the neck and attached with its other end to the opposite edge of the resonance bowl. The construction, consisting of three parts, is only stable due to the tensioned strings. This type, which occurs exclusively in Uganda, includes the ennanga of the Baganda, the ekidongo of the Nyoro , the kimasa of the Basoga, the five-stringed opuk agoya (or lotewrokuma ) of theAcholi and the tum of the Langi , also consisting of a turtle shell as a resonator . Due to the relatively limited range, Gerhard Kubik (1982) concludes that this type arrived in the region long ago and independently of the other types. It is unclear how the "spoon in the cup" type came south through Sudan, but this probably happened before the Luo immigration to Kenya in the 16th century. Like many other Nilotic peoples, the Luo are predominantly not players of harps but of lyres (like the tom ). The oral tradition can be summarized in the case of the ennangaas far back as Kabaka Nakibinge (ruled c. 1494–1524), to whom it was played on the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria.

Cork in the bottle, type 2

The image of the "cork in the bottle" for the second type describes a wooden body that has a spout-shaped opening at one end into which the lower end of the neck is inserted. This results in a solid connection. In some forms the junction is distinctly set off, forming a ridge in the outline in profile, in others the broad base has been wrapped in skin or occasionally carved as a human head. Also known as the tanged type , it occurs in central Africa north of the equator. Typical harps are the kundi of the Azande in northern Congo , the domu of the Mangbetuin north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as in Uganda, the kinanga of the Bakonjo of the Rwenzori Mountains , the ore or orodo of the Madi in northern Uganda and southern Sudan, and the adungu of the Alur. In general, there are considerable differences in form and playing style between the musical instruments of the Nilotic peoples of northern Uganda (including the Alur adungu ) and those of the Bantu ( Baganda ennanga , Basoga kimasa ) of southern Uganda.

Shelved type, type 3

In the third type, called the shelved type (“the type provided with a board”), the resonator has a board to which the string carrier is attached or occasionally plugged. The base board is the criterion for this type, although it can occasionally take the form of a human head. The distribution region extends along the Atlantic Ocean from Gabon to southern Cameroon and includes two isolated occurrences in Ghana and Ivory Coast. A bowed harp of this type is in the musicological text Syntagma musicum by Michael Praetorius(1619) pictured. In addition to a pluriarc , Plate XXXI also shows a Central African bowed harp for the first time. The representation of a body made of several boards was probably modeled on an eight-string bowed harp observed among the Kele (Bakele, Kélé -speaker) on the coast of Gabon. Portuguese sailors had landed there in 1470 and had soon established trade relations. Gerhard Kubik (2000) concludes from Praetorius' figure that type 3 in Gabon may have evolved from type 2 well before the 17th century through the adoption of local forms in Gabon and the Congo, primarily from the Pluriarc.

Theory, how the harp spread across Africa

In 1982, Gerhard Kubik (1982) took a harp classification system devised by Klauss Wachsmann typology to show possible ways that the bow harp spread in Africa. From Egypt, the harp may have spread south up the Nile through the empire of Cush (c.600 BC - c.350 AD) and in a precursor of the "spoon in the cup" type during the course of the 1st century BC. Millennium reached the south of Uganda, from which the ennanga and their relatives later developed. The "cork in the bottle" type, to which the adungu belongs, developed from instruments that first made their way west from Kush to Lake Chad . Franz Födermayr (1969) found halfway along this route among the Bilia in the retreat area of the Ennedi mountains(in northeastern Chad) the five-string bowed harp krding. Another five-string harp on this route is the Nubian kurbi (also al-bakurbo ) of the Baggara of Darfur, reported in 1972. With the progressive drying out of the savannah, there were population shifts to the south, and this type of harp reached its present distribution area, including northwestern Uganda. In this ''diffusion theory'', there are some differences between the ancient Egyptian and southern African bowed harps, which have moved away from them in terms of playing technique and construction: Unlike in ancient Egypt, some modern African harpists holds their instrument with his neck away from his body. The ancient Egyptian harps were generally believed to have fixed tuning pegs to keep the strings wrapped around the neck from slipping, but no movable tuning pegs like all contemporary African harps. When and from where the tuning pegs were first introduced is unclear. The Alur and Acholi also call ''adungu'' or ''adingili'' a multi-stringed

, which consists of a semicircular curved stick over which a cord is stretched in such a way that three Z-shaped strings with different pitches result. ''Adingili'' is a probably onomatopoeic Bantu-Timbrh language word, phonetically connected with timbili for a Cameroonian lamellophone. According to descriptions from the first half of the 20th century, this musical bow is played by Acholi and Alur girls who place the bow staff on an inverted gourd bowl to amplify the sound. From a musical bow amplified in this way, the developmental path to the bowed harp leads via the intermediate stage of a resonator attached to the semicircular string carrier. The rare Afghan waji , classified inconsistently as a musical bow or bowed harp, has such a wooden resonator equipped with a skin cover, the strings of which are individually stretched.

Names

African harps have many names in different languages and dialects. These include: *''Adeudeu'', Uganda and Kenya,

Teso people The Iteso (or people of Teso) are a Nilotic people, Nilotic ethnic group in Teso sub-region, eastern Uganda and Busia County, western Kenya. Teso refers to the traditional homeland of the Iteso, and ''Teso language, Ateso'' is their language. ...

Arched harp Arched harps is a category in the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system for musical instruments, a type of harp. The instrument may also be called bow harp. With arched harps, the neck forms a continuous arc with the body and has an open gap ...

. *''Adungu'', Uganda,

. Arched harp. *''Ardin'', Mauritania, Moorish women *''Bolo-bogo'', Ivory Coast,

Senufo people The Senufo people, also known as Siena, Senefo, Sene, Senoufo, and Syénambélé, are a West African ethnolinguistic group. They consist of diverse subgroups living in a region spanning the northern Ivory Coast, the southeastern Mali and the west ...

. Single-stringed harp, played with one hand as rhythm instrument, other hand beats resonator as drum *'' Bolon'', ''bolombata'', West Africa, Manding people; Gambia,

Mandinka people The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, The Gambia, southern Senegal and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the List of ethn ...

; Guinea, Maninka people; Mali, Maninka people. Arched harp; also classed as a harp lute. *''Bonguma'', Democratic Republic of the Congo, Balendu people. 5-string harp, horizontal. *''Dilli'', Chad,

Masa people The Massa people, also called Masana, Banana, or Yagoua, are a Chadic ethnic group in Cameroon and Chad. They are often grouped together with several together ethnic groups, who are collectively referred to as the Kirdi people. The Masa have a ...

. 5-string arched harp, horizontal, with tuning pegs. Resonator struck with arm for additional rhythm *''Do'', Ivory Coast, Guere people. Angular harp or belly harp, 7 strings strung across triangular frame with calabash resonator. *''Domo'', Democratic Republic of Congo,

Bari people Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and university city ...

, Domo people,

, Ndongo people, Ngbele bpeople. Resembles kundi. *''Donnu'', Democratic Republic of the Congo,

. Arched harp, 5 strings. May no longer be in use. *''Ekidongo'', ''Ekinongo'', Uganda, Nyro people. Arched harp, resembles ennanga. Also 3-string

Nkole people The Nkole people, also known as the Banyankole, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the Ankole region of Uganda. They are primarily found in the southwestern part of the country, in what was historically known as the Ankole Kingdom. The Banyankol ...

. *''Ekihato'', Uganda, Konjo people. Arched harp. *''Ennanga'', Uganda,

. Arched harp with tuning pegs or tuning rings. Enanga is also a name for a

trough zither Trough zithers are a group of African stringed instruments or chordophones whose members resemble wooden bowls, pans, platters, or shallow gutters with strings stretched across the opening. A type of zither, the instruments may be quiet, dependin ...

. *''Entongoli'', Uganda, Jopadhola people. *''Galdyama'', Chad & Cameroon, Kotogo people. Arched harp, 5 strings, string attached to neck with pegs. Trio of harps of which galyma is smallest and highest pitched. Other two are the ''direnda'' and the ''kolo''. :*''Direndana'', West Africa,

Kotoko people The Kotoko people, also called Mser, Moria, Bara and Makari, are a Chadic ethnic group located in northern Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria.Kotoko people The Kotoko people, also called Mser, Moria, Bara and Makari, are a Chadic ethnic group located in northern Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria.Pygmy people. 8-string arched harp. *''Gundi'', Chad & Cameroon,

Kotoko people The Kotoko people, also called Mser, Moria, Bara and Makari, are a Chadic ethnic group located in northern Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria.Baule people. Both arched harp, belly harp, musical bow. Bow with 6 strings, calabash resonator held to stomach. *''Kimasa'', Uganda,

Soga people The Soga (also called Basoga) are a Bantu ethnic group native to the kingdom of Busoga in eastern Uganda. The Basoga live in Uganda's districts of Bugiri, Iganga, Jinja, Kamuli, and Mayuge (formerly known collectively as Busoga) though new distr ...

. Arched harp, resembles ennanga. *''Kinanga'', Uganda, Konjo people. *''Kinde'', Chad, Barma people. arched harp, 5 strings, tuning pegs. *''Kindingding'', Cameroon,

Fali people The Fali people (called the Bana in Nigeria)"Fali," ''The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary'' (1996) (James Stuart Olson, editor). Greenwood : p. 174-175. are any of several small ethnic groups of Africa. The Fali are concentrated ...

. Arched harp, 5 strings, tuning pegs, boat shaped resonator. *''Komba'', Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Budu people The Budu people (Babudu) are a Bantu people living in the Wamba Territory in the Orientale Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They speak the Budu language. Location The Budu people live on both sides of the Nepoko River, speaking ...

. Arched harp, resembles ''kundi'' *''Kondu'', Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Zande people The Azande are an ethnic group in Central Africa speaking the Zande languages (whose classification is uncertain). They live in south-eastern Central African Republic, north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as south-central a ...

. Arched harp. *''Kunda'', Democratic Republic of the Congo,

. Arched harp, resembles ''kundi''. *''Kundé'', Chad, Sara Gambaye people. Arched harp, 6 strings. Can be used instead of human voice to transmit messages. *''Kundi'', Democratic Republic of the Congo & Central African Republic. Arched harp, related to '' ngombi''. Neck is sometimes arched, sometimes angular. *''Kundu'', Democratic Republic of the Congo. Arched harp. *''Kunnee'' 5-string arched harp, Chad,

Gula people Gula, also spelled ''Goula'', is an ethnic group who lives in Central African Republic, Chad, and Sudan. In the Central African Republic, they live in the northern regions of Vakaga, Bamingui-Bangoran, and Haute-Kotto. History Gula people are ...

with the end opposite the neck flat. Strings are attached to neck with pegs. *''Kurbi'', Sudan,

Nubian people Nubians () ( Nobiin: ''Nobī,'' ) are a Nilo-Saharan speaking ethnic group indigenous to the region which is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt. They originate from the early inhabitants of the central Nile valley, believed to be one of th ...

. 5-strings played with left hand, resonator is drummed with right hand. *''Loma'', Liberia. Angular harp. *''Loterokuma'', Uganda,

Acholi people The Acholi people ( , also spelled Acoli) are a Nilotic peoples, Nilotic ethnic group of Luo peoples (also spelled Lwo), found in Magwi County in South Sudan and Northern Region, Uganda, Northern Uganda (an area commonly referred to as Acholiland ...

. Arched harp, resembles ennanga. *''Maringa'', Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bajanje people. Arched harp, resembles ''kundi''.*''Nandomo'', Democratic Republic of the Congo,

. Arched harp, resembles ''kundi''. *''Nanga'',

Azande people The Azande are an ethnicity, ethnic group in Central Africa speaking the Zande languages (whose classification is uncertain). They live in south-eastern Central African Republic, north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as south ...

. *''Nango'', Uganda,

. 8-string harp. *''Nedomu'', ''neduma'', Democratic Republic of the Congo,

and Meje people. Arched harp, resembles ''kundi''. *'' Ngombi'', Cameroon and Central African Republic and Gabon. Arched harp, 8-10 strings. Users include Ngbaka people,

Fang people The Fang people, also known as Fãn or Pahouin, are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group found in Equatorial Guinea, northern Gabon, and southern Cameroon.Kele people, Tsogo people, Miene people. Related or same as ''gonfi'', ''ngonfi'', ''ombi'', ''wombi''. *''Ngombo'', Gabon, Tsogo people. Arched harp, 8 strings, vertical. *''Ngonfi'', Gabon, Manango people. Arched harp, 8 strings. *''Nkundi'', Democratic Republic of the Congo,

, Bondo people,

. Arched harp, resembles ''kundi''. *''Ntongoni'', Uganda,

. Horizontal harp, 6 strings. *''Ombi'', Gabon,

Fang people The Fang people, also known as Fãn or Pahouin, are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group found in Equatorial Guinea, northern Gabon, and southern Cameroon.Pahuin people. Arched harp, 8 strings. Related to or same as ''ngombi''. *''Opuk agoya'', Uganda,

. Arched harp, resembles ''ennanga''. *''Ore'', Uganda,

Madi people The Madi or Màdí are a Central Sudanic languages, Central Sudanic speaking people that live in Magwi County in Eastern Equatoria, South Sudan and the districts of Adjumani and Moyo District, Moyo in Uganda. From south to north, the area runs f ...

. Arched harp, resembles ''ennanga''. *''Orodo'', Uganda,

. Arched harp, resembles ''ennanga''. *''Otongoli'', Uganda, Gwere people. Arched harp, resembles ''ennanga''. *''Ougdyé'', African harp. *''Seto'', Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ngbaka people. Resembles ''kundi''. *''Tongoli'', Uganda, Dhola people. 8-string harp. *''Tum'', Uganda,

Lango people The Lango are a Nilotic peoples, Nilotic ethnic group. They live in north-central Uganda, in a region that covers the area formerly known as the Lango sub-region, Lango District until 1974, when it was split into the districts of Apac District ...

, Labwor people. Arched harp, resembles ''ennanga''. *''Wombi'', Gabon,

Fang people The Fang people, also known as Fãn or Pahouin, are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group found in Equatorial Guinea, northern Gabon, and southern Cameroon.Birom people. Arched harp, 6-7 strings.

References

* {{Harps African musical instruments Arched harps