Banhu

Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments describes the instrument as a ‘Two-string fiddle of the Han Chinese’; the two strings are tuned a 5th apart and the instrument is played using a bow. Consists of a relatively long tapered neck and a resonating chamber made from a ?coconut shell. The neck extends through the body of the instrument and has a square cross section at either end and rounded between the peg box and the body; the two tapered and fluted tuning pegs are inserted from the same side. The coconut shell has a wooden soundboard; the back had five geometrical-shaped cutouts. The associated bow is made from a longitudinal section of a bamboo cane.