Construction and Design
The Kafir harp is constructed of two main components, the soundbox and the stringholder. The Soundbox is made from a hollowed piece of wood with a think piece of animal skin stretched over it. The stringholder is a curved branch that sits on top of the soundbox, and up to five strings are pulled through holes created along the side of the branch. On one side of the branch, the strings are held in place with non-tuning knobs, on the other side the strings dangle off the instrument like tassels. One harp collected in an anthropological expedition in the 1950s had four strings that corresponded to the central Techrachord of the Dorian Mode.
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