The Valiha, the national instrument of Madagascar.

The Valiha, the national instrument of Madagascar.

The valiha is a 10 to 24-string tube-zither chordophone traditionally made from bamboo. Its ancestral predecessor has its origins in southeast Asia, brought over by early Austronesian settlers and subsequently adopted by many of Madagascar’s ethnic groups. It was originally used in a ritual/spiritual context, used to invoke the ancestors, and was held in particularly high regard by the aristocracy of the Merina kingdom that came to rule much of Madagascar.