Valiha

For the plant genus, see Valiha (plant).

A valiha player in Ambohimahasoa, central Madagascar
Lullaby played on valiha
Valiha orchestra at the Paris World Exposition of 1931.
Valiha with larger diameter bamboo tube.

The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar made from a species of local bamboo; it is considered the "national instrument" of Madagascar.[1] The term is also used to describe a number of related zithers of differing shapes and materials.[2]

The instrument has been held in high regard among the Malagasy particularly in the Merina rule over the island that having long fingernails ideal for plucking its strings were marks "distinguishing the aristocracy from the labourers".[3][4] Aside from recreational music, the valiha is also used for ritual music to summon spirits.[5]

It is commonly believed in Madagascar that the valiha is "inherited from King David", as part of a larger origin myth of Jewish provenance of Malagasy people.[6]

  1. ^ Bruno Nettl (1985). The Western impact on world – change, adaptation, and survival. Schirmer Books. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-02-870860-7.
  2. ^ Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (11 January 2013). The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Routledge. pp. 123–. ISBN 978-1-136-09570-2.
  3. ^ Shaw, Geo (8 November 1879). "Music among the Malagasy". The Musical Standard. 17 (797): 297. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
  4. ^ Schmidhoffer, August (4–8 October 2005), "Some Remarks on the Austronesian Background of Malagasy Music" (PDF), The 2005 International Forum of Ethnomusicology in Taiwan, Taipei: Soochow University, Taiwan
  5. ^ Hans Austnaberg (2008). Shepherds and Demons: A Study of Exorcism as Practised and Understood by Shepherds in the Malagasy Lutheran Church. Peter Lang. pp. 158–. ISBN 978-0-8204-9717-4.
  6. ^ Devir, Nathan (2016). "Origins and Motivations of Madagascar's Normative Jewish Movement". In Parfitt, Tudor; Fisher, Netanʾel (eds.). Becoming Jewish: new Jews and emerging Jewish communities in a globalised world. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 49–63. ISBN 978-1-4438-9965-9.