ramkie
The Ramkie (also called an Afri-can) is a type of guitar usually made in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Malawi. It is made using a discarded oil can (or similar) for the soundbox. It has three or four strings (rarely six like a guitar), made of fishing wire or bicycle brake wire, and may be fretted or fretless.
Also recorded as Afri-can
ramkie
![South Africa [left] Afri-can guitar (plucked lute) Cape Town, 2009 Metal, plastic Developed and commercialized from earlier instruments such as the igogogo and ramkie by South African maker Graeme Wells (1961-2008). [center] Igogogo (plucked lute) Zulu people, 2007 Tin, wood Shiyani Necobo, maker [right] Ramkie? (... lute)......, 2009 Ghoema drum? Thuzwa (...) [Description panel] (with](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Musical_instruments_on_display_at_the_MIM_%2814165328057%29.jpg/640px-Musical_instruments_on_display_at_the_MIM_%2814165328057%29.jpg)
Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA · Musical instruments on display at the MIM · CC BY 2.0
- Name
- Ramkie
- Field
- guitar.
- Region
- Southern Africa.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
The Ramkie (also called an Afri-can) is a type of guitar usually made in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Malawi. It is made using a discarded oil can (or similar) for the soundbox. It has three or four strings (rarely six like a guitar), made of fishing wire or bicycle brake wire, and may be fretted or fretless.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for ramkie. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q2130181 · wikipedia · Ramkie
In this article
Overview
Overview
The instrument has apparently always been used for repetitive chord-playing, not melodic patterns.
Drawing by Charles Davidson
Charles Davidson Bell · Scan from a book
Drawing by Charles Davidson
Charles Davidson Bell · Scan from a book
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Ramkie • Background — string • Classification — String instrument • Hornbostel Sachs Desc — Composite chordophone • Developed — South Africa • Illustration — A pair of 3 string fretless Ramkies.
History
History
The instrument is recorded as early as 1730 among the Khoikhoi people in the Cape, although its earlier history is unclear. Such early ramkies had a gourd for its body. The name probably comes from Portuguese "rabequinha" ("little violin"). It was later adapted by the San and Bantu speakers, and the gourd body replaced by wood or a tin can. • Illustration — Ramkie, pre-1974, Rhodesia, Zambia.
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.
Southern Africa.
Country
ramkie is associated with Southern Africa.
Country
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Karl Johan Andersson: Notes of Travel in South Africa. Hurst and Blackett, London 1875, S. 233,
- 2.Bernhard Ankermann: Die afrikanischen Musikinstrumente. (Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der philosophischen Facultät der Universität Leipzig) Haack, Berlin 1901, S. 21 ( )
- 3.Percival J. Kirby, 1965, S. 244
- 4.Anders Sparrman: A voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, towards the Antarctic polar circle and round the world: but chiefly into the country of the Hottentots and Caffres, from the year 1772, to 1776. Band 1. G.G.J. and J. Robinson, London 1786, S. 229,
- 5.Otto Friedrich Mentzel: Vollständige und zuverläßige geographische und topographische Beschreibung des berühmten und in aller Betrachtung merkwürdigen Afrikanischen Vorgebirges der Guten Hoffnung... Band 2. Günther, Glogau 1787, S. 518f
- 6.Percival R. Kirby, 1965, S. 250; Maximilian Hendler: Banjo. II. Vor- und Frühgeschichte. In: MGG Online, November 2016 (Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 1994)
- 7.Percival R. Kirby, 1965, S. 255f; vgl. die Beschreibung von Sourindro Mohun Tagore: Short notices of Hindu musical instruments. Ghose, Calcutta 1877, S. 20
- 8.Ralph Skene: Arab and Swahili Dances and Ceremonies. In: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Band 47, Juli–Dezember 1917, S. 413–434, hier S. 414f
- 9.Maximilian Hendler: Vorgeschichte des Jazz: Vom Aufbruch der Portugiesen zu Jelly Roll Morton. (= Beiträge zur Jazzforschung/Studies in Jazz-Research) Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz 2008, S. 39
- 10.François Levaillant: Voyage de M. Le Vaillant dans l’Intérieur de l’Afrique par Le Cap de Bonne Espérance, dans Les années 1783, 84 & 85. Leroy, Paris 1790
- 11.Carl Peter Thunberg: Voyages De C. P. Thunberg, Au Japon, Par le Cap de Bonne-Espérance, Les îles de la Sonde &c. Traduits, rédigés … Par L. Langles,... Et revus, quant à la partie d’Histoire Naturelle, par J.B. Lamarck ... Paris 1796
- 12.Petrus Borchardus Borcherds: An autobiographical memoir. Being a plain narrative of occurrences from early life to advanced age, chiefly intended for his children and descendants, countrymen and friends. A.S. Robertson, Kapstadt 1861, S. 178,
- 13.Vgl. Ulrich Wegner: Afrikanische Saiteninstrumente. Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin 1984 (= Veröffentlichungen des Museums für Völkerkunde Berlin, Neue Folge 41, Abteilung Musikethnologie, V), S. 154, ISBN 3-88609-117-1
- 14.Machete. In: Sibyl Marcuse: Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary. A complete, autoritative encyclopedia of instruments throughout the world. Country Life Limited, London 1966, S. 324
- 15.Denis-Constant Martin: Sounding the Cape. Music, Identity and Politics in South Africa. (PDF; 3,0 MB) African Minds, Somerset West 2013, S. 73
- 16.Daniël G. Geldenhuys: Südafrika (Republik). II. Traditionelle Musik. 2. Khoi-Khoi. In: MGG Online, November 2016 (Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 1994)
- 17.Vgl. Percival R. Kirby, 1965, S. 178
- 18.John Barrow: Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa, in the Years 1797 and 1798... Band 1, zweite Auflage. London 1806, S. 98,
- 19.Robert Percival: An Account of the Cape of Good Hope. C. and R. Baldwin, London 1804, S. 91,
- 20.Hinrich Lichtenstein: Reisen im südlichen Afrika in den Jahren 1803, 1804, 1805 und 1806. 1. Band. C. Salfeld, Berlin 1811, S. 150
- 21.John Wedderburn Dunbar Moodie: Ten years in South Africa: including a particular description of the wild sports of that country. Band 1. Richard Bentley, London 1835, S. 224–226,
- 22.Percival R. Kirby, 1965, S. 212, 252
- 23.George Thompson: Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa. Band 1. Henry Colburn, London 1827, S. 391,
- 24.Leonhard Schultze: Aus Namaland und Kalahari. Bericht an die königlich Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin über eine Forschungsreise im westlichen und zentralen Südafrika in den Jahren 1903–1905. Gustav Fischer, Jena 1907, S. 374, .
- 25.Leonhard Schultze, 1907, S. 487 f., .
- 26.Percival R. Kirby, 1965, S. 83, 253f
- 27.Percival R. Kirby, 1965, S. 249–254
- 28.Gerhard Kubik: Muxima Ngola – Veränderungen und Strömungen in den Musikkulturen Angolas im 20. Jahrhundert. In: Veit Erlmann (Hrsg.): Populäre Musik in Afrika. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin 1991, S. 250
- 29.Gerhard Kubik, 1989, S. 7–9
- 30.David K. Rycroft: Evidence of Stylistic Continuity in Zulu “Town” Music. In: David K. Rycroft, Klaus Wachsmann (Hrsg.): Essays for a Humanist: An Offering to Klaus Wachsmann. The Town House Press, New York 1977, S. 216–260, hier S. 234–242
- 31.Gerhard Kubik, 1989, S. 12f
- 32.Gerhard Kubik: Musical Activities of Children Within the Eastern Angolan Culture Area. In: The World of Music, Band 29, Nr. 3 (Children’s Music and Musical Instruments) 1987, S. 5–27, hier S. 19
- 33.Denis-Constant Martin, 2013, S. 97 Fn. 33
- 34.Peggy Seehafer: guitarfoundation.de
- 35.Africa. Atlas of Plucked Instruments
- 36.Elizabeth Nelbach Wood: Observing and Recording Village Music of the Kweneng. In: Botswana Notes and Records, Band 12, 1980, S. 101–117, hier S. 114
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference 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.
Elsewhere in Collectables
20,755 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Rally SpeedwayWork
- Rally-XWork
- Ram TrucksOrganisation
- RamboWork
- Ramon's SpellWork
- RampageWork
- Rampage KnightsWork
- Rampage Through TimeWork
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with ramkie?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.