No one really knows what this instrument is called – Jew’s Harp, Jaw Harp, Juice Harp, Mouth Harp – but it is said to be the oldest musical instrument in the world. Confusingly, it almost certainly has nothing to do with Jewish people. Lots of countries have their own instruments similar to the Jew’s Harp, made of materials from metal to bamboo.
As a kid I’d always see them hanging up in music shops on dusty cardboard signs, looking like something you might use to open a bottle of beer. Actually, you rest it on your teeth and twang the wire while changing the shape of your mouth to alter the sound. As you twang, you can hear harmonic overtones created by the shape inside your mouth. Once you get good, you can change these tones to create simple melodies over the drone of the twang. To really get going on it, you need to use your breath with it, breathing in or out as you twang to increase the volume and change the texture of the note.
In Rajastan, India, they have a Jew’s Harp-type instrument called a Morchang, which this guy plays like a demon:
