(Fr. arc-en-terre; Ger. Erdbogen)
A simple one-string musical instrument apparently found only in equatorial Africa (mainly in Côte d’Ivoire, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, northern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda), also known as ‘ground bow’ or ‘earth bow’. It comprises a flexible stave planted in the earth with a string stretching from its free end to a soundboard of bark, plantain leaf, or something similar (see illustration). The latter is secured above a small pit in the ground, the edges being weighted down by a ring of stones or earth or by a circle of pliable twigs held down by pegs. In Uganda, one variant form has the string pegged into the ground under the edge of a half-gourd.
Because it resembles a musical bow, this instrument is often referred to as a ‘ground bow’ or ‘earth bow’, but in its construction it is really a form of harp. In some varieties a rigid upright stake helps to support the flexible stave near its mid-point. The string may be either plucked or struck with a stick, sometimes by more than one performer. Among so-called pygmies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a second player drums on the cover of the pit with two sticks. Pitch variation is usually achieved by stopping the string between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, but in some areas the string tension is altered.
Ground harps are used mainly as children’s toys. Sometimes they are built in groups and played together. Sachs has suggested the ground harp as ancestor to the one-string harp (cai dan bau) of Annam and also to portable instruments such as the gopīyantra and ānandalaharī of Bangladesh and West Bengal.
SachsH
B. Ankermann: Die africanischen Musikinstrumente, Ethnologisches Notizblatt, iii/1 (1901/R)
L. Frobenius: ‘Die Saiteninstrumente der Naturvölker’, Prometheus, xii (1901), 625, 648
T. Norlind, ed.: Systematik der Saiteninstrumente, i (Stockholm, 1936), 39–40
K.P. Wachsmann: ‘The Sound Instruments’, in M. Trowell and K.P. Wachsmann: Tribal Crafts of Uganda (London, 1953), 311–415
M. Djenda: ‘L’Arc-en-terre des Gbaya-Bokoto’, AfM, iv/2 (1968), 44–6
H. Bouraoui: Arc-en-terre (Woodbridge, ON, 1991)
DAVID K. RYCROFT