Zithers in which a rectangular board serves as string bearer occur in simple form in Africa—in Zaire and neighboring areas of Tanzania—often set upon a calabash resonator. The stringing method, characteristic of African instruments, is shared with the trough zithers: a single long cord is laced back and forth to form as many strings as desired.
African board zithers present so many features of the East Asian long zithers (see page 193) that we are entitled to consider them as a...