Listen to the Kacapi
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
How the Kacapi makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the Kacapi belongs to the board zithers: strings are stretched across a flat board or box – the family of the piano, harpsichord and hammered dulcimer.
More broadly it is one of the chordophones (string instruments), where sound comes from vibrating strings, amplified by a resonating body.
Players shape its sound through technique and materials; the resonating body filters the raw vibration, boosting some harmonics and damping others.
From Wikipedia
The kacapi is a traditional zither of Sundanese people in Indonesia. This musical instrument is similar to Chinese guzheng, Japanese koto, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum, the Vietnamese đàn tranh and the Kazakh jetigen. The kacapi played as the main accompanying instrument in the tembang Sunda or Mamaos Cianjuran, kacapi suling (tembang Sunda without vocal accompaniment) genre (called kecapi seruling in Indonesian), pantun stories recitation or an additional instrument in gamelan degung performance.
The word kacapi in Sundanese also refers to santol tree, from which initially the wood is believed to be used for building the zither instrument.
Other board zithers
Frequently asked questions
What does the Kacapi sound like?
Listen to 5 recordings on this page. As one of the board zithers, its sound comes from the way strings are stretched across a flat board or box.
What type of instrument is the Kacapi?
It is classified as board zithers (Hornbostel–Sachs 314.122).
Sources & credits
- Kacapi Indung Laras Degung koleksi Jurusan Karawitan ISBI Bandung by Salomo Christian Hutajulu – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Kacapi Laras Salendro koleksi Jurusan Karawitan ISBI Bandung by Salomo Christian Hutajulu – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Kacapi Indung Laras Mandalung koleksi Jurusan Karawitan ISBI Bandung by Salomo Christian Hutajulu – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Kacapi Rincik Laras Salendro koleksi Jurusan Karawitan ISBI Bandung by Salomo Christian Hutajulu – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Kacapi Rincik Laras Mandalung koleksi Jurusan Karawitan ISBI Bandung by Salomo Christian Hutajulu – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q1823485 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Kacapi – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by DiN – CC BY-SA 3.0