Some days ago I have discovered a video with Gasper Nali and his huge one string guitar Babatoni.
Gasper Nali is a musician from Malawi, he has built a huge one stringed kind of guitar and uses this instrument to accompany his songs. He also uses a selfmade foot drum as a percussion instrument.
Gasper Nali shows his Babatoni in the following video.
The instrument is made from a kind of big drum, a long board, a long wire used as a string and a tuner. The instrument is played with a stick in the right hand and a bottle in the left hand. The bottle is used to shorten the string. Gasper Nali has painted big colored numbers to the neck of his instrument to mark the positions for the different tones. Before he plays the Babatoni he uses a fire to heat the drumhead of his instrument, so it sounds better. The bridge is positioned on the drumhead.
It is fascinating which sounds this simple homemade instrument can produce. Together with the footdrum Gasper Nali can play a great accompaniment for his songs.
Playlist Gasper Nali
Gasper Nali has produced to albums which are available at bandcamp:
Album 2005 at bandcamp: https://gaspernali.bandcamp.com/album/abale-ndikuwuzeni
Album 2018 at bandcamp: https://gaspernali.bandcamp.com/album/zoona-malawi