Picture of dizi

Music in Madagascar

Madagascar is an island off the east coast of Mozambique in the Indian Ocean. This blend of cultural influences is evident in the music of the Malagasy people, which can be roughly divided into three categories: traditional, contemporary, and popular music

Musicians in rural Fianarantsoa district

Instruments and vocal styles, as well as the style and purpose of music, traditionally vary widely from one region to the next. The oldest musical traditions are those of the Highland peoples, who trace their ancestry back to the original Malayo-Polynesian settlers.

Traditional instruments include the valiha, a bamboo tube zither very similar in form to those used traditionally in western Indonesia. The strings were originally raised from the fibers of the bamboo tube itself, although a contemporary form also exists that uses bicycle brake cables for strings instead to give the instrument a punchier sound. 

The Dizi, is a chinese flute. It is also sometimes known as the di or hengdi, and has varieties including the qudi.  The dizi is a major Chinese musical instrument, and is widely used in many genres of Chinese folk music, as well as Chinese opera, and the modern Chinese orchestra. Traditionally, the dizi has also been popular among the Chinese common people, and it is simple to make and easy to carry.

Banhu

The banhu (板胡, pinyin: bǎnhú) is a Chinese traditional bowed string instrument in the huqin family of instruments. It is used primarily in northern China. Ban means a piece of wood and hu is short for huqin.

Like the more familiar erhu and gaohu, the banhu has two strings, is held vertically, and the bow hair passes in between the two strings. The banhu differs in construction from the erhu in that its soundbox is generally made from a coconut shell rather than wood, and instead of a snakeskin that is commonly used to cover the faces of huqin instruments, the banhu uses a thin wooden board.

The banhu is sometimes also called "banghu," because it is often used in bangzi opera of northern China, such as Qinqiang from Shaanxi province.

The yehu, another type of Chinese fiddle with a coconut body and wooden face, is used primarily in southern China.

Picture of banhu: