krar
Sign in to saveThe krar (Geʽez: ክራር) is a five-or-six stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is tuned to a pentatonic scale. A modern krar may be amplified, much in the same way as an electric guitar or violin. The krar, along with the masenqo and the washint, is one of the most widespread musical instruments in Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Key facts
- Instrument.name
- Krar
- Instrument.image
- Krar Linden-Museum F55878.jpg
- Instrument.image_capt
- A wooden krar.
- Instrument.background
- string
- Instrument.classification
- lyre
- Instrument.developed
- Ethiopia and Eritrea
- Instrument.related
- masenqo
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Kissar SAM 9.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- Hornbostel-Sachs classification
- 321.21
- Commons category
- Krar
Sources (2)
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Article
8 sectionsContents
- Role in society
- Historical
- Contemporary
- Features
- Resources
- Films
- See also
- References
The krar (Geʽez: ክራር) is a five-or-six stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is tuned to a pentatonic scale. A modern krar may be amplified, much in the same way as an electric guitar or violin. The krar, along with the masenqo and the washint, is one of the most widespread musical instruments in Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea.
==Role in society== thumb|An Ethiopian musician performing in 2013 ===Historical=== In Amhara society, the krar was viewed as an instrument inspired by the Devil and was therefore inferior, whereas the Begena was for praising God and seen as sacred. The krar was used to adulate feminine beauty, create sexual arousal, and eulogize carnal love.