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Àgídìgbo — Box thumb-piano
Category: Instruments
A large box-resonated lamellophone plucked with the thumbs, central to Yorùbá highlife.
The agidigbo genre of Yorùbá highlife music takes its name directly from this instrument.
The agidigbo is a large wooden box with metal tongues mounted across an opening, plucked with the thumbs to produce a deep, resonant bass tone — the player often sits on or beside the box, using its body as the resonating chamber.
It gave its name to agidigbo music, a mid-20th-century Yorùbá highlife style built around the instrument's bass line, which later influenced other popular Yorùbá genres.
Example: Ọkùnrin náà ń fi àwọn àtàǹpàkò rẹ̀ lu agídìgbó. — "The man is plucking the agidigbo with his thumbs."
Related words:
- Jùjú — A related Yorùbá popular music genre
- Gángan — The talking drum, a common ensemble partner