Musical Bows and Zithers along the Great Silk Road

Book excerpt: The musical bow is usually considered one of the earliest instruments in the history of instrumental development; yet, the validity of this view has not been proven. In all likelihood, it was one among many other early instruments created to produce sound. The same can be said in general for all the simple chordophones called zithers, of which the musical bow is one type. The papers collected in this volume have been initially presented at the International Council for Traditional Music Colloquium (ICTM) held in Shanghai in December 2022. They try to challenge some previous depictions of instrumental development and one-sided explanations of musical histories. They specifically focus on exploring the interrelationship between instrumental development and the availability of natural resources in particular geographical regions. While the papers at the colloquium focused on sound production, they also explored the role of ethnomusicology as a discipline in guiding local decision making and interregional research co-operation.