Agidigbo

The agidigbo or ‘’’molo’’’ is a large traditional plucked lamellophone thumb piano[1] used by the Yoruba people of Nigeria to play apala music.[2][3]

It is a box, big enough to sit on a musician’s lap, with 4 to 5 strips of metal set up side by side on top like keys on a piano keyboard. The tongues are designed to vibrate. The musician uses their fingers to pluck them, the left hand plucking one or two rhythmic tongues, the right hand plucking the three melodic tongues. "The best players use as many fingers as possible." Players also tap the side of the instrument with a thick ring or the top with their thumbs or knuckles.[2][3]

The instrument produces sonorous tones. Because of the Yoruba language's nature as a tonal language, the agidigbo can act as a musical “speech surrogate”, conveying language through its tones.[2]

  1. ^ Warner Dietz, Betty; Olatunji, Michael Babatunde (1965). Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use, and Place in The Life of a Deeply Musical People. New York City: John Day Company. p. 47. The thumb piano... in Nigeria it is known as the adidibo...
  2. ^ a b c O. E. Olupemi (2017). "Music and Tonal Communication: Decoding and Conserving the Agidigbo Instrument in Apala Music". Unilag Journal of Humanities (UJH). 4 (2).
  3. ^ a b Dabi Debo Kanyinsola. "AGIDIGBO from Nigeria". youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved 2 January 2020. also known as Molo. A wooden box with metal tongues, played by plucking the metal with fingers and the same time tapping the sides of the box to harmonize the rhythm... the player maintains concordance with rhythm while concomitantly interpreting the on-going song with the instrument... singing the song with the agidigbo.