The nyele is a small horn made from hollowed out animal horn or matete reed. The nyele is played in groups; one man plays one

note Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versi ...

and others play different pitches, which combine to form a certain combination of sounds. Traditionally, the nyele were played along with the budima drums at funerals of the so-called Valley Tonga in

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

. The nyele is sometimes decorated with

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an paints, a sleeve of snakeskin or seed beads pressed into bees wax. They are used by men and youth at both formal and informal dances. They are commonly played with drums and not by themselves alone, and are employed for funerals, large gatherings, and other ceremonial occasions. They vary in size from about 5 inches to 18 inches (13 cm to 46 cm) long.

External links

Group of seventeen Tonga men playing nyele
at Smithsonian Global Sound Natural horns and trumpets Zambian musical instruments {{Aerophone-instrument-stub