An introductory study of music among the Kera
Instruments
Strings
So far I have come across only one stringed instrument, the gundi, a six-stringed harp. The one that I have seen is about four feet tall, but I believe that they are also made smaller. I do not know if there is such a thing as "correct tuning," but the only time that I heard one being played the strings were tuned to the pentatonic scale. I am told that any man is free to play this at any time, but that it has a particular function in funerals and festivals. The one time that I heard it seemed to be in conjunction with an event to remember the dead.
Wire strings are used for this instrument and the body and tuning pegs are made of wood. Hide is stretched over the top of the sound-box section. The instrument is played with the main body part in the lap and the arm part containing the tuning pegs towards the body of the player.
Example melody:
Another stringed instrument, made of a gourd, also exists. The adidil is smaller than the gundi and rests on the arm of the player. It is played with a horsehair bow. As with the gundi, any man can play this instrument on any occasion, but it tends to be used in funerals and festivals. There is no diagram of this instrument in this paper, as I have yet to see one.