Contextual Associations
This bowl lyre is likely a dita that was originally integrated into the musical life of an ethnic group living in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (hereafter SNNPR) of southwestern Ethiopia. Unfortunately, there is not much published information about Ethiopian lyre traditions other than for those of the krar and the other important Amhara lyre, the beganna (not found in this collection). This lyre could be a village version of the krar made by the musician who played it, but it does differ in subtle design details from the krar. Powne presents a drawing of an unnamed Male (or Maale, a people of the SNNPR) lyre with a membrane-covered tortoise-carapace resonator very similar to this one (p. 47). One online source consulted reports that the dita is used for circumcision ceremonies, by elderly people to accompany themselves as they sing about their lives, and during wedding celebrations (Música Para Ver). The instrument being described here appears to be of some age, but at some point in its existence it was probably removed from its original cultural context and transformed into an “African tribal” art object of interest to an international audience of collectors.
Description
The instrument’s resonator (detail #1) is made from the carapace of a leopard tortoise (a species widely distributed throughout the savannah region of East Africa) covered with a mammal skin (probably from a cattle) the edges of which are stitched together on the bottom of the carapace with thick twine (detail #2); the dita documented on the Música Para Ver site has an almost identical resonator. Several small rock chips have been placed inside the resonator to contribute a noise element to the sound of the instrument. The instrument’s string holder is constructed from three slender lengths of wood (species unidentified). Two of these are of approximately the same length (c. 21 inches) and form the two necks of the lyre. Each neck passes through a hole punched into the upper edge of the soundtable (detail #3) and then continues, underneath the soundtable until its end rests against the inside edge of the carapace. The exposed end of each neck is sharpened to a point to facilitate the attachment of the 10-inch-long wooden cross yoke, which has a hole drilled into the flattened sections near each of its ends (gallery #1). The five strings pictured on this instrument are almost certainly not original to it. These strings are made of a synthetic material rather than from gut or plant fiber, which are more likely materials for the strings of an instrument of this age. One end of each string is simply wound around the cross yoke; most old East African, including Ethiopian, lyres have individual tuning rings or levers for each string. The other end of each string passes through a small hole at the base of the soundboard, then through a hole drilled in the carapace, before being tied to a common wooden anchor (detail #4). The shadow of a rectangular-shape bridge can be seen on the resonator’s membrane soundboard suggesting that originally this instrument included a pressure bridge (detail #1).
Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production
Due to the scarcity of information on lyres of southwestern Ethiopia, we cannot say with any certainty how it would be held and sounded by its musician, or how it should be tuned. All East African lyres are plucked and/or strummed (none are bowed), and most, but not all, are used by a vocalist to accompany themselves singing topical songs (Wegner and Weisser, pp. 346-347).
Origins/History/Evolution
The lyre, as an instrument type, is very old, dating back to the 3rd millennium BCE. It is known to have existed in East Africa at least as early as the middle of the first millennium BCE. Today, lyre traditions exist primarily in Egypt, East Africa, and the Arabian peninsula (Wachsmann 2014, p. 344).
Bibliographic Citations
allaboutETHIO. n.d. “Traditional Instruments in Ethiopia.” allaboutETHIO website accessed 03/05/2022: https://allaboutethio.com/ttraditionalinstruments.html
Música Para Ver. n.d. “Dite.” Musica Para Ver website accessed 03/05/2022: https://musicaparaver.org/instruments/type/chordophone/origin/eastern-africa/2920
Powne, Michael. 1966. Ethiopian Music: An Introduction. London: Oxford University Press.
Wachsmann, Klaus, et al. 2014. “Lyre,” in GDMI v.3: 344-348.
Wegner, Ulrich, and Stéphanie Weisser. 2014. “Lyre, §3: Modern Africa” in GDMI v.3: 345-347.
