Valiha

The valiha is a bamboo tube zither from Madagascar. It is played by plucking the strings, which may be made of metal or (originally) the bamboo skin which is pried up in long strands and propped up by small bridges.

The strings are generally made of bicycle brake cable. The cables are unstrung into individual strands and each string of the instrument is made of only one or two strands of the cable, depending upon the tastes of the player.

The greatest valiha player in recent memory is generally acknowledged to be Rakotosafy, who was born in 1938. Few of his recordings exist today, most of which were made live at the central studio of Malagasy Radio.

A documentary of Madagascar, focusing on the music of the valiha and Rakotosafy, entitled Like a God When He Plays, was recently aired on Link TV.[1]

The Valiha is known as Madagascar's national instrument.

See also

• Music of Madagascar

External links

• A traditional Valiha in the Museum of Art and Archeology of the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar includes background information on the instrument

• A Valiha on-line course by Bana Rahalahy includes information on how to tune the instrument and provides lessons to learn to play it

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