In the video I posted yesterday I mentioned in passing the Latvian traditional instrument the kokles or kokle which is a kind of plucked box zither, closely related to the Lithuanian kanklės, Estonian kannel, Finnish kantele, and Russian gusli. I thought I would post about it in a bit more detail. I love the kantele, and this is basically the same thing - it’s a very pretty sound.
“The kokles has a hollow trapezoidal body usually carved out of a single piece of wood that's topped with a thin wooden soundboard. A distinct feature that sets kokles apart from most of the other string instruments is that the strings don't rest on a bridge, making the sound quieter, but richer in timbre. Wooden (or sometimes metal) tuning pegs are set into the wide tip of the body, while at the narrow tip is a metal rod upon which the strings are secured, giving them a slightly fan-shaped arrangement. The strings may be of brass or steel. Traditionally, there were 6–9 strings which later increased to 10 and more.
Strumming is done with the right hand's index finger, while the left hand is used for muting unwanted strings by lightly placing fingers on them.. The left hand can also be used for picking strings.” (edited for space, taken from Wikipedia)
... PS!
I also found this video interviewing a kokles player about his instrument. I know I’m always on about harps, but that’s the thing I do know a bit about, and I found a couple things he said very similar to Celtic harps - that the instruments are not standard, all builders build them in different ways, use different woods, different sizes, numbers of strings, shapes, etc. One other thing was that this guy has these devices on his strings that let him change the pitch by a semitone, precisely what the levers on a Celtic (or “lever harp”) do. Anyway - It’s a longish interview but quite interesting so I will tack it on here, in case someone wants more info.