Kabosy
Illustration — A boy playing a mandoliny or kabosy with full fretting. • Illustration — Kabosy. • Illustration — A guitar-shaped Kabosy. The kabosy is a box-shaped wooden guitar commonly played in music of Madagascar. It has four to six strings and is commonly thought to be a direct descendant of the Arabic oud through the gambus played in Malay-populated areas of Southeast Asia.
Kabosy
Jhob · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Field
- plucked string instrument · guitar
- Region
- Madagascar
- Related practice
- wood · nylon · steel
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — A boy playing a mandoliny or kabosy with full fretting. • Illustration — Kabosy. • Illustration — A guitar-shaped Kabosy. The kabosy is a box-shaped wooden guitar commonly played in music of Madagascar. It has four to six strings and is commonly thought to be a direct descendant of the Arabic oud through the gambus played in Malay-populated areas of Southeast Asia.
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wikipedia incomplete · checked 25 September 2026
- Identity
- resolved
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Authority files
wikidata · Q2895785
In this article
Overview
Overview
The kabosy has staggered frets, many of which do not even cross the entire fretboard, and is generally tuned to an open chord. A kabosy-like instrument with standard frets is known as a mandalina or mandoliny. Kabosys are frequently handmade from scavenged materials, and their form varies greatly depending on the builder and materials available. Kabosys may be strung with nylon (often used fishing line) or steel (often from scrap wire or cable).
Materials recorded for it are wood, nylon and steel. It is associated with Madagascar.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Madagascar
Country
Kabosy is associated with Madagascar.
Country
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Partially resolved
Connections
Knowledge graph
Connections
Each connection was recorded deliberately, with the basis for it kept on the internal record.
Broader subject
1- guitarTerminology
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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