Ground bow

The ground-bow, also known as an earth-bow or ground harp, is a single-string bow-shaped folk musical instrument, classified as a chordophone. It is known in cultures of equatorial "Ground Bow", Encyclopædia Britannica and south Africa, and in other cultures with African roots. It consists of a flexible stick planted into the ground (possibly a stripped sapling or a branch), with a string from its free end to a resonator of some kind based on a pit in the ground."Arco de tierra", referring to François-René Tranchefort, Los instrumentos musicales en el mundo, , 1985, and later editions It looks like a game trap or a child toy, therefore its distribution over Africa used to be overlooked. Hornbostel (1933) classified is in the category of harps, although it has combined characteristics of a harp and a musical bow.Jaco Kruger, "Rediscovering the Venda Ground-Bow", Ethnomusicology, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Autumn, 1989), pp. 391-404

The resonator may be a pit covered by a board, with string attached to it. Kruges describes several other constructions by Venda, e.g., the other end of a string is tied to a stone dropped into the pit, with string passing through the board covering the pit, etc.

Other names include kalinga or galinga by Venda people. In their language "galinga" means simply a hole in the ground, while the origins of "kalinga" are uncertain. It is known as gayumba in Haiti, Dominican Republic,Fradique Lizardo, Instrumentos musicales indígenas dominicanos, 1975,Section "Gayumba", p.64 and tumbandera in Haitian traditions of Cuba.Music in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Encyclopedic History , vol.2, p.210 Baka people call it angbindi.

It is also known in Cuba under the onomatopoeic name tingo-talango (tingotalango)."CUBANISM: WHAT IS The “Tíngo Talángo” ?""TINGO TALANGO, son, Auteur : Julio CUEVA Julio Cueva's song Tingo Talango dedicated to this musical instrument describes its construction thus:

Tingo Talango is also the song by Ñico Lora.

The instrument is reportedly nearly-extinct in the native cultures.

Playing techniques Kalinga may be struck by a stick or plucked in various ways. The bow stick may be bent to change the tension of the string, and hence the tone. It can be played in a glissando manner: the stick is bent, struck, and released, producing a peculiar sound. The produced pitches are not always stable.

Kalinga is usually played to provide repetitive accompaniment to the choral song.

See also Ground zither

References

Further reading Ground bow The Ground Bow in Zimbabwe and Beyond