Begena
My favorite type of melodic instrument
The begena, (Amharic: በገና) is a ten-stringed box-lyre instrument from Ethiopia, and is the sole melodic instrument devoted only to the zema, the spiritual part of Ethiopian music.The instrument's name is derived from bägänä, to buzz, pluck, play; it is etymologically related to the Hebrew , (nagan), "touch/play [a stringed instrument]"". Oral tradition identifies the instrument with the kinnor of the Israelites played by David to soothe King Saul's nerves and heal him of insomnia, and later brought to Africa by Menelik I. Its actual origin remains in doubt, though local manuscripts depict the instrument at the beginning of the 15th century AD.