IDNO

P.57275.RDG

Description

A Kamba man, who is annotated as being a professional fiddler and singer, playing a one-stringed fiddle. The fiddle is constructed with a gourd resonator, curved wooden neck with one peg for the string, and played with a bow with a number of fine strings. The bridge for the string was not in place when this photograph was taken.
The man wears a fez, a blanket as a cape, and metal bands as arm ornaments. He is kneeling on the ground in a grass plain.

Place

E Africa; Kenya; Nairobi

Cultural Affliation

Kamba [historically Akamba]

Named Person

Photographer

Hobley, Charles William

Collector / Expedition

Ridgeway, William

Date

1908

Collection Name

Ridgeway CollectionMuseum Objects and Galleries

Source

Hobley, Charles William

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.57274.RDG to P.57284.RDG were found in C274/3/ which came from C274/. The latter was kept in Wooden Drawer VI.

This print was sent to Ridgeway by C.W. Hobley. See archive reference.

Archive Reference: Box 316, AA4/2/6, letter from C.W. Hobley to Ridgeway dated 24/1/08, Nairobi.
“My dear Ridgeway ...
I did not know you were writing a paper on musical instruments, curiously enough I recently discovered a one stringed fiddle, among the A-Kamba. I call it a fiddle because it is the only musical instrument I have seen in E. Africa that is played by a true bow made of a number of fine strings, I send you a photo of a man playing it. He is a professional fiddler & sings to it in a most weird & fascinating way. The instrument has a bridge but unfortunately when I took the photo the bridge was not in position. I have sent the original instrument to your Museum in a large case with a a number of dancing shields &c & addressed them to Baron von Hugel so you will have the original instrument if you care to use it as an illustration for your paper when it is read. ...” [JD 20/6/2007]

Group: The Kamba (Mukamba in singular Akamba in the plural) are a Bantu ethnic group who live in the semi-arid Eastern Province of Kenya stretching east from Nairobi to Tsavo and north up to Embu, Kenya. This land is called Ukamba or land of the Akamba. Depending on the source, they are either the third or the fifth largest ethnic group in Kenya. They speak the Kikamba language. [Source: Ethnologue Online 15th Edition, JD 4/10/2006]

Biographical Information: Charles William Hobley, C.M.G. (1867-1947) was a pioneering British Colonial administrator in Kenya. He served the Foreign Service in Kenya from 1894 until his retirement in 1921 and published a number of monographs on a variety of subjects. In 1906 Hobley became sub-commissioner of Ukamba Province, stationed in Nairobi. [Source: A Bio-Bibliography of C.W. Hobley, by A. T. Matson; Thomas P. Ofcansky, History in Africa © 1981 African Studies Association, JSTOR Online, JD 20/6/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [JD 2/7/2007]