Kissar

Musical instruments reflect their physical, cultural and economic environment. Trade, religion, environmental changes, technological choices are each an integral part of instrument manufacturing in a community. The kissar, a bowl shaped member of the lyre family, has existed in Egypt, the Sudan and other areas of Western Africa since well before 200 BC. Early travelers in Africa suggested that this instrument was inspired by an Ancient Greek lyre, the 'cithara', but its origins are not so clear cut.

The instrument has a rounded body sometimes made from gourd or carved wood, shells, horns or animal skulls; two posts extend from the body, with a cross piece connecting each post. Cords (now often metal) are attached to the body of and to wooden tuning pegs on the cross piece.

In the Stearns Collection, a West African kissar is made from a tortoise shell; its posts are decorated with cowrie shells. What does this suggest about the physical environment of its makers?

Selected references:

• "Kissar." The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. 3 vols. Stanley Sadie, ed. London: Macmillan, 1984.
• Plumley, Gwendolen Alice. El tanbur : the Sudanese lyre or the Nubian kissar. Cambridge : Town and Gown Press, 1976
• Vogel, Martin. Chiron, der Kentaur mit der Kithara. Bonn-Bad Godesberg : Verlag fur Systematische Musikwissenschaft, 1978.

Last updated March 10, 1998 by Sam Cronk