Photo and Feature Photo of Sea Organ by michal.kolodziejski

The Zimbabwean Mbira

The mbira is a deceptively plain type of thumb piano that is essential to understanding the culture and lives of the people of Zimbabwe.

The concept is simple: around 28 metal keys are mounted on a wooden board and plucked with the right forefinger and both thumbs. Slightly longer nails are preferable, and callouses are inevitable. Typically, a rattling, buzzing noise is produced by stringing bottle caps or shells to the bottom of the board. To amplify the sound, players hold the mbira inside a gourd while playing.

The mbira is an extremely spiritual instrument, and is used in many ceremonies in Shona life. Among other things, it’s believed to be a means of communication with the dead, a way to cure illness, and even give the musician power over the weather.

Don’t be fooled by the mbira’s simple appearance; listening to a master give an mbira performance is an emotional experience that moves many to tears.

The Zadar Sea Organ

This instrument is man-made, but nature is the performer. Designed by Nikola Bašić, the organ stretches along the coast of Zadar, Croatia, a solution to the enourmous concrete wall that dominated the beach of the ravaged city after World War II.

All that is visible is hundreds of feet of white marble stairs that lead into the ocean. But beneath runs a set of pipes that resonate in different harmonized pitches thanks to the compression and decompression created by the wind and water. This instrument functions like just like a pipe organ played by the breeze and the sea, creating truly organic music.

The Pikasso Guitar

Keeping a regular guitar in tune can be tricky enough. But what about tuning a guitar with 42 strings?

Created by Linda Manzer, the aptly named Pikasso harp guitar gives the fingers (and the brain) a workout with more than eight times the regular amount of strings stretched over three necks.

Who better to demonstrate the Pikasso’s capabilities than the legendary Pat Metheny:

The Awesome Power of Odaiko

With groups like Kodo gracing more and more western countries with their performances, word about the ancient Japanese art of Taiko drumming is spreading. If you’ve seen a Taiko performance, you might remember that one drum. You know. The really, really big one they use near the end of the show.

In fact, the ōdaiko may very well be the largest drum in the world. Even more incredibly, true ōdaiko are carved from a single piece of wood, typically from a special type of tree that is hundreds of years old. While groups like Kodo usually include the ōdaiko in performances, the largest are too heavy to move and remain permanently in the temples where they were built.

The Steel Drum

Out of all the instruments on this list, the steel drum is probably the most well-known. However, it’s incredibly misunderstood, and as someone who is fairly obsessed with this beautiful instrument, I thought I’d take this opportunity to clear a few things up.

The steel drum, or “pan”, while highly associated with Jamaica and other cruise destination islands, was invented by the people of Trinidad and Tobago. The country lives and breathes pan; I can’t think of another nation that prominently features a musical instrument on their currency.

Every year Trinidad sees dozens of steel band contests and festivals, the most famous of which is Panorama. This highly anticipated competition takes place over the weeks leading up to Carnival and pits dozens of bands, each made up of over 100 members, against each other for the title of Grand Champion.

Despite the surprisingly bright, loud sound, the steel drum isn’t “plugged in.” It’s actually the only family of acoustic instruments to have been invented in the 20th century. Just like string instruments in an orchestra, there are several voices of pans, including tenor, cello, and bass. In fact, full Trinidadian steel bands often perform arrangements of classical symphonic tunes, from Beethoven to Mozart.

Barbed Wire Fences

Pretty much anything can be a musical instrument…although that doesn’t make it desirable to listen to. But the latter isn’t the case with violinist Jon Rose.

Jon has spent the last twenty six years playing and recording barbed wire fences around the world. According to his website, Jon sees fences as “giant musical string instruments covering a continent.” His lastest project, Great Fences of Australia, has taken him and fellow violinist Hollis Taylor around 35,000 km of the country, recording fences and documenting the history and lives of the people involved in building and maintaining them.

Community Connection

What did I miss? Share the unusual or memorable instruments you’ve come across in the comments section below!

Interested in more about Zimbabwe? Check out Eva Holland’s piece about the politics and the people there.

The song is quite funny, but his story has me more than a little worried about my drums on my impending United flight out of Korea.

To be fair, I’ve flown United before and my instruments were very well-treated. Unfortunately, Dave wasn’t quite so lucky.

In March of 2008, Dave’s Halifax-based band Sons of Maxwell headed to Nebraska for a week-long tour. During a layover in Chicago, a passenger cried out, “My god, they’re throwing guitars out there!”

The band members crowded around the windows to witness United baggage handlers throwing their instruments with little regard for fragility.

Dave notified a flight attendant, with no result. Upon arriving in Nebraska, he discovered that his $3,500 guitar was badly damaged.

During a layover in Chicago, a passenger cried out, “My god, they’re throwing guitars out there!”

What followed was months of attempted communication on Dave’s end, and evasiveness from United that, the way he tells it, was so frustrating it’s almost funny. Dave spoke to United and Air Canada employees, who tossed blame back and forth with other employees like a game of hot potato.

A Short History of a Claim with United Airlines

He befriended a few very sympathetic agents in India.

He spoke to a confused United employee in New York who was unsure why the Chicago folks had forwarded his call to her.

He called numbers that were functional one day and mysteriously disconnected the next.

His claim was lost, then found, then lost, then found again.

He was told to bring his guitar to Chicago for inspection after he’d returned to Halifax, Canada.

After months of running into dead ends and jumping through hoops, Dave’s claim was finally denied.

His offer to settle for $1,200 in flight vouchers to cover the repair costs was rejected as well.

In his last email to the United employee who denied his claim, Dave promised to make three music videos about the experience, with the goal of hitting one million views in a year.

So far, so good. “United: Song One,” A.K.A. “United Breaks Guitars” is getting massive attention on YouTube and “United: Song Two” is due later this summer. With over 15, 000 hits for the first song in less than two days, I’d say Carroll is well on his way to reaching his goal.

Meanwhile, I’ll get back to searching high and low for as much styrofoam popcorn, bubble wrap, and duct tape as I can find for my drums and hope that the name United doesn’t really mean United against the passengers.

All photos are stills from the video.

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