Obokano

The obokano (also spelled obukano) is a large bass bowl lyre from Kenya. It is used by the Gusii ethnic group.

The instrument is made from a skin of a cow or goat and a bowl like structure curved out of a wood stump. It consists of eight strings whose tensions on the crossbar can be adjusted to produce different tones. It has been described as "the double-bass of East Africa."[1]

References
  1. Remnant, Mary; Group, Diagram (1978). "World Instruments". The Musical Times. 119 (1626): 680. doi:10.2307/959148. ISSN 0027-4666. JSTOR 959148.

Further reading
  • Hyslop, Graham. "Some Musical Instruments of Kenya." African Arts, vol. 5, no. 4 (Summer 1972), pp. 48-55.
  • Varnum, John P. "The Obokano of the Gusii: A Bowl Lyre of East Africa." Ethnomusicology, vol. 15, no. 2. (May 1971), pp. 242-248.


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