11th June 2016 at St Ethelburga’s, London EC2.
The Krar (or Kraar) is a five- or six-stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea. They are lyres i.e. their strings emanate from a common point. The Krar’s strings are stretched vertically between a lower soundbox and an upper cross-bar. The latter is supported by two side-posts, which are inserted at their bases into the soundbox.
Krars are assigned the number 321.21 in the Hornbostel-Sachs classification of musical instruments (
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornbostel-Sachs ), indicating:
3 = Chordophone. Instruments where the sound is primarily produced by the vibration of a string or strings that are stretched between fixed points.
32 = Composite Chordophone. Acoustic and electro-acoustic instruments which have a resonator as an integral part of the instrument, and solid-body electric chordophones.
321 = Lutes. Instruments where the plane of the strings runs parallel with the resonator’s surface.
321.2 = Yoke Lutes or Lyres. Instruments where the strings are attached to a yoke which lies in the same plane as the sound-table and consists of two arms and a cross-bar.
321.21 = Bowl Lyres. A natural or carved-out bowl serves as the resonator.
