Description:
The valih' is a tube zither traditionally hand carved both strings and
zither were hand carved from the same piece. Traditionally the valiha
strings were made from the same piece of bamboo. These valih are still
occasionally made, although the strings are known to snap once the
string snaps one has to make another valih of this type. In the past
the valiha was a sacred musical instrument often played in religious
ceremonies and or processions mainly held by the aristocracy. Since the
19th century the valiha is a secular instrument.
Originally the valiha
had strings that were hand carved from the same piece of bamboo the valih' was made from if a string broke
one could not replace it. The bamboo-string valih has a very different
tone to the current metal strung-valih. A more recent method is the use
of guitar strings or strings made from bicycle break cable. In the
southern regions of Madagascar the Bara people they call the Valih
"manibola". The Bara people who live in the Southern regions of
Madagascar traditionally used the manibola for ceremonies involving
spiritual possessions. The valih is considered Madagascar’s national
musical instrument and it’s believed to be one of the oldest stringed
instruments of the island.
The Playing Technique:
A traditional method of playing the valiha is the instrument is
manipulated by the player's left and right hands. If the musician is
standing in the performance they would wrap a scarf around the valiha
and hold the instrument beneath their stomach area. Sometimes the same
scarf or another peace of cloth would be inserted into the strings to
muffle the valih.
Anatomy of the Valiha:
The valiha usually have around 10, 17 to 19 strings and one sympathetic
string who for resonance. A large 15.2cm diameter bamboo tube is
selected for the valiha, this tube is cut just above the nodes around
10cm from the node upwards. During the construction a sound hole is
carved into the bottom of the tube. Each of the valiha strings has two
adjustable bridges hand carved from gourd in which multiple number of
scale-based tunings can be created. The ornamentation on the surface of
the valih is hand-burned often this technique was heating a coat hanger
in the fire or with a blow torch. There is a slot carved with a couple
sound holes added into the bamboo tube. Each individual string is held
by an attached nail near the nodes of the bamboo. The nails are covered
with some form of yak or goat fur for aesthetics.