L’odyssée africaine d’un cordophone rudimentaire, le « luth à pique intérieure »

Abstract

In the so-called « innerspike lute », the handle is fixed to the resonance chamber in a specific way. It does not cross the resonance chamber the whole way through, but it stops at the level of a hole in the skin covering the chamber. From there, the strings stretch to the other end of the handle, where they are tied with straps. Data and hypotheses are presented over these most likely very old African lutes. Depending on the shape of the bridge, a fan or a cylinder, one can divide these lutes in two different types. Their contemporary geographical distribution is different, which leads to new assumptions as to the origin and dissemination of these instruments, as compared with the harp and lyre.

Keywords

• organology
• chordophones
• lute
• harp
• lyre
• loan