The Obokano of the Gusii: A Bowl Lyre of East Africa

Author(s): John P. Varnum

Source: Ethnomusicology , May, 1971, Vol. 15, No. 2 (May, 1971), pp. 242-248
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of Society for Ethnomusicology

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/850469

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242 BRIEF CONTRIBUTIONS

Husmann,
Husmann, Heinrich
Heinrich
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1951Funf-
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Leiden: E. E.
J. Brill.
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1952 Cent in MGG 2:965-966.

Kunst, Jaap
1959 Ethnomusicology. 3rd ed. The Hague: Nijhoff.
Kuttner, Fritz A.
1953 Nochmals: die Steinzeit Lithophone von Annam. Die Musikforschung 6:1-8.
Lieberman, Fred, and Diane Larrabee
1970 A table of cents for frequencies from 0 to 4000.9 Hertz. Providence, R.I.:
Brown University computer print-out.
Nielsen, Kaj L.
1943 Logarithmic and trigonometric tables to five places. New York: Barnes and Noble.
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1949 The music rule. Experientia 5(11):441-445.
Sachs, Curt
1943 The rise of music in the ancient world. New York: Norton.
1955 Our musical heritage. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
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1952 A table relating frequency to cents. Elkhart, Indiana: Conn.

THE OBOKANO OF THE GUSII:

A BOWL LYRE OF EAST AFRICA

John P. Varnum

The Gusii are a Bantu speaking group of peoples living in the western
highlands in the south of Nyanza Province in western Kenya. They are a large
tribe, having an estimated population of 757,000 (Goldthorpe 1960:10). The
Gusii are essentially an agricultural people who are fortunate to live in one of
the more mild climated, fertile areas of Kenya.
The Gusii are sometimes called the Kisii, which is a corruption of the
tribal name used by the Luo, a larger, neighboring tribe located west of the
highland areas. The largest town and its district of south Nyanza, where the
majority of the Gusii people live, are known by this corruption, i.e., Kisii
town and Kisii district.
The Gusii have had a relatively short period of contact with European
settlers and visitors. The first regular visitations by white people started
around 1908 and the first governmental services were offered in 1911. The

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 BRIEF CONTRIBUTIONS 243

Gusii have, however, worked hard in their attempt to modernize the

life and to establish schools for their children. In a period of only
they have made astonishing advances from their traditional way
spite of their desire to adapt to the modern world, the Gusii hav
making attempts to retain some of the older ways of life. In the
1969, a showing of Gusii traditional arts, crafts, music and dancing w
in Kisii town.
As might be expected, Gusii music appears to be undergoing a tremen-
dous change under the impact of the radio and the portable phonograph.
More and more young people are taking up European musical instruments,
such as the guitar, in favor of the older, traditional instruments.
One Gusii-traditional instrument that is becoming increasingly rare is the
"Obokano," a large bowl lyre that has the numerical designation of 321.21-5
under the Hornbostel and Sachs classification system (Hornbostel and Sachs
1961:22).
The bowl lyre has a long history of existence as noted by Galpin and
Sachs (Galpin: 1937, Sachs: 1940) but why its usage extended into the Lake
Victoria area is an interesting and perplexing problem.
It is felt by some authorities that the Nilotic language groups originated
in the Bahr-el-Ghazal area of modern Sudan and migrated into the Lake
Victoria area where they presently live (Ogot 1967:41). It is further felt that
Egyptian traders had penetrated into this area as early as 2275 B.C. (Oliver &
Fage 1962:38). G. W. B. Huntingford feels that certain equatorial African
practices are of Egyptian origin (Huntingford 1967:88) and Adamson has
made the interesting observation that the traditional Luo elder's dress is
remarkably similar to that of the Egyptian Pharaohs (Adamson 1967:156). As
the lyre appears to have been introduced into Egypt by Semitic nomads
approximately 1900 B.C. (Sachs 1940:86), would it be unreasonable to
assume that the Nilotes were, in turn, introduced to the bowl lyre by
Egyptian traders and brought it with them during their migrations to the Lake
Victoria area where it then spread to the contiguous areas?
The bowl lyre is one of the more common musical instruments of the
western Lake Victoria district. In the areas immediately surrounding Kisii
district, the bowl lyre is known by the Luo as "Nytiti" and by the Kuria as
"Iritingo," but the "Obokano" of the Gusii is distinctive because it is, by far,
the largest of the lyre type instruments in Kenya. The "Obokano" owned by
the author stands four feet tall and informants have claimed to know of
instruments that exceed six feet.
The "Obokano" is used as an accompanying instrument for singing and
dancing. As the Gusii concept of music is more of a vocal orientation than
instrumental, the "Obokano" is rarely used in a solo capacity and then, usually,
only as an introduction to singing. In order to be considered an "Amatera," a

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244 BRIEF CONTRIBUTIONS

person must know many songs and have a pleasant or pleasing

word "Amatera" literally means a man who sings. A person who onl
instrument, such as the "Obokano," and does not sing, is not consid
a musician.

Possibly the most common usage of the "Obokano" is in the perform-

ance of the so-called "praise" song. The praise songs are used to glorify
important personages or to commemorate memorable events. Most of these
songs are improvised on the spot. The "Obokano" plays a short, iterative
phrase, much in the same fashion as that of the European ground bass or
basso ostinato, while the singer improvises poetry on the particular subject at
hand. But even this improvisation is done to a set formula. The melodic
phrase is essentially the same, albeit a longer phrase than the accompaniment,
being changed only to fit the improvised words. Improvisation, for the Gusii, is
more oriented towards the poetry than the music. Any improvisation of music
tends to be a variation of an existing model, rather than a complete new
musical thought.
An example of the type of improvisation of poetry in the praise song is as
follows:

Yae-aa, Nyamao Bw'okego

Nyamao is well spoken
Nyamao from Boguehe is well spoken
Brethren, you are all good
There is a bar at Boboracho which has spoiled
the best people in the country.

This example is roughly translated from Ekegusii, the vernacular lan-

guage, but it does give some idea of the content of the praise song. Each line
is repeated two to three times. This particular song is in praise of a student,
Nyamao Bw'okego, who was attending Kisii College, a teacher training institu-
tion located in Kisii town. The singer also makes reference to Nyamao's
grandfather, Nyamao from Boguehe, then congratulates the attending crowd
for their good behavior. In his final line, the singer laments the fact that he
had spent a good deal of time in the bar at Boboracho and neglected his
studies, which he felt was the principal reason why he was not admitted to
Kisii College as was Nyamao. Of the six "Obokano" players recorded on this
one day, four of them made rather pointed appeals, in their songs, to the
author for aid in being admitted to Kisii College where the author was
stationed.
This particular recording session was done in a school room at
Boboracho, a market place located about five miles from Kisii town. What
started as a recording of only one "Obokano" player became the recording of
six players and a beer and dancing party that lasted for over six hours, with

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 BRIEF CONTRIBUTIONS 245

an estimated group of eighty people in attendance. As people, passing

way to the market, heard the "Obokano" being played in the sch
they would enter the room, first to listen and then to dance. At the
of the recording, they were a bit hesitant to dance, but when the au
not object, they joined in with a good deal of enthusiasm. The dancin
interesting that one woman refused to nurse her obviously hungry b
while, the woman tried to mollify the baby by nursing it while danc
the baby refused to be placated. Finally, in desperation, the woman s
baby home with an older sister so that she could be free to enjoy
and dancing.
The instrument owned by the author has a wooden bowl 21 inches in
diameter and 12 inches deep. Attached across the face of the bowl are two
wooden arms, four feet in length, in the shape of a shallow "V." A cross bar
34 inches long connects the two arms at the top. The bowl is covered with
cowhide or zebra hide, tied in place with rawhide thongs. According to
informants, it is important that nothing metallic, i.e., nails, be used in the
construction of the instrument as this will spoil the tone. Two or three stones
are placed within the bowl before the final attachment of the hide so that the
bowl will rattle if shaken. The back of the bowl is decorated with a mixture
of honey and blood, giving it a thick, paste-like appearance.
Eight strings are strung from the crossbar parallel to the face of the hide
covered bowl. Each string has its own tuning knot consisting of the string
intertwined with a cloth strip and wound into a large knot on the crossbar.
The astounding thing is the fact that this tuning mechanism works exception-
ally well and will hold the instrument in tune for a long period of time.
The strings were originally made from zebra sinew, but are presently
made from either sisal string or tennis racket gut. The use of tennis gut is
becoming increasingly popular because of its strength and the ease with which
it can be obtained, but it does have a decided effect upon the tone of the
instrument, making it much more difficult to obtain the "buzzing" effect.
There are two bridges on the instrument, the real bridge being placed at
the foot of the instrument. A false bridge, made of pieces of flattened cane
and attached with beeswax, is placed almost exactly in the center of the head.
This false bridge is used as a vibrating table for the strings and gives the
instrument a characteristic "buzzing" or "rattling" sound as the strings vibrate
against it. This peculiar sound is also considered the criterion of a well-made
and well-played instrument.
In performing on the "Obokano," the instrument is balanced on its side
on the performer's left thigh, the bulge of the bowl being placed away from
the performer. The left hand is placed over the top of the instrument and
controls the uppermost four strings and the right hand plays on the lower
four strings. Each string must be plucked very strongly, in order to obtain the

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246 BRIEF CONTRIBUTIONS

"buzzing" tone. Generally, only the thumb and first two fingers of eac
are used in playing the instrument.
Although the instrument has eight strings, only six tones are avai
due to two unison tunings and an octave duplication. Of course, this res
a pentatonic scale with the octave duplication. One interesting feature i
seemingly random order of tuning the strings. This random order of tu
bowl lyres has also been noted by Wachsmann on the "Endogo" of the G
in Uganda (Wachsmann 1961:45). The highest and lowest notes ava
which are also the octave duplication, are the two center strings (Examp
The reason for apparent random order of tuning becomes obvious when
noted that each hand controls the interval of a descending fifth. The le
controls the lower fifth and the right hand controls the upper fif
actual usable notes, in ascending order, are C, E, F, G, B and c (Exam
However, the order of tuning as controlled by each hand is as follo
hand G, F, E, C; right hand c, B, G, F (Example 3). It was noted b
author that the tuning of the "Obokano" as given above was exactly the
for two different instruments recorded over a year apart. Whether th
simply pure coincidence or may give the implication of a sense of a
pitch on the part of "Obokano" players, the author would hesi
speculate.

* , a- ,- . * I
I , , . I
I i I I I I I
I i I I I I I

- : I : I I ;

Example 1

9:

Example 2

left hond right hand

Example 3
Example 3

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 BRIEF CONTRIBUTIONS 247

The basic rhythms played by the "Obokano" are in a compoun

of either two or three basic accents. It is usually of isometric, iso
style, resulting in rhythmic patterns of which those illustrated in E
are typical.

o) b) c)

' r-
Example 4

Often two strings at a time are played on heavily accented beats. This
produces a strong drum-beat like sound in addition to the resulting interval.
Other instruments are not played in conjunction with the "Obokano"
with the exception of some small vessel rattles, called "Kayamba," which are
used for rhythmic emphasis. These rattles are usually tied to the player's ankle
and he plays them by stamping his foot on the ground, although the rattles
are sometimes played by an assisting musician.
The player of the "Obokano" is not necessarily always the singer.
Sometimes a singer will have a "student" accompany on the instrument while
he himself plays the vessel rattles and improvises the poetry and melodic line.
The art of playing the "Obokano," and almost every traditional instru-
ment, is limited to male members of the Gusii tribe. However, women are
allowed to play drums, or "Ekonu," and the vessel rattles, during their
circumcision ceremonies.

"Obokanos" and their players are becoming increasingly rare in the Kisii
district. During the previously mentioned Arts and Crafts Festival held in Kisi
town, the organizing committee was able to locate a man who could play but
he did not have his own instrument. The committee was eventually forced to
borrow an instrument from the author's private collection so that they could
have an instrument for the musician to play upon, and for Festival display.
Fortunately, the Kenya Music Festival has added a division of traditional
folk instruments, eligible to compete in annual National Music Festival held in
Nairobi. Perhaps, under this incentive, the "Obokano" and other East African
folk instruments may enjoy a revival and be assured of a continuing plac
among the musical instruments of the world.

REFERENCES CITED

Adamson, Joy
1967 The people of Kenya. London: Collins and Harvill Press.
Galpin, Francis W.
1937 A text book of European musical instruments. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.

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 248 BRIEF CONTRIBUTIONS

Goldthorpe, J. E. and F. B. Wilson

1960 Tribal maps of East Africa and Zanz
Institute of Social Research.

Horbostel, Erich M. von and Curt Sachs

1961 Classification of musical instruments' (Translated from the original German by
Anthony Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann), Galpin Society Journal 14:3-29.
Huntingford, G. W. B.
1967 The peopling of the interior of East Africa by its modern inhabitants In
Oliver, R. and G. Mathew, Ed., History of East Africa (Nairobi, Kenya: Oxford
University Press), pp. 59-93.
Ogot, B. A.
1967 History of the Southern Luo. Nairobi, Kenya: East African Publishing House.
Oliver, Roland and J. D. Fage
1962 A short history of Africa. Baltimore: Penguin Books.
Sachs, Curt
1940 History of musical instruments. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
Wachsmann, Klaus P.
1961 The primitive musical instruments In A. Baines, Ed., Musical instruments
through the ages (Baltimore: Penguin Books), pp. 23-54.

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