HISTORICAL
ANGOLA
The Chokwe people use stone handbells called sango.
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In Santa Rosa de Tastil, in Argentina there is a special quartz from which lithophones have been made locally. "Tastil" apparently mean "rock that sounds". An example of the lithophones can be found in the local museum.
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AUSTRIA
In the early 19th century Franz Weber built an instrument from alabaster which he called the Lithokymbalon.
AZERBAIJAN
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The caves of Gobustan (Kobustan/Qobustan) contain ancient rock drawings which include depictions of dancing. There is also a local rock which emits a deep resonating sound when struck, known as gaval-dashy ("tambourine stone") and it is popularly thought that the dancing took place to the accompaniment of the sound of the stone (below). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEf9cNoYd4k
ARGENTINA
BOLIVIA
The people of Northern Potosî in Bolivia apparently used ringing stones whose sound was apparently held by them to be manifestations of the presence of the devil, Supay, trapped within them.
BORNEO
The Sea Dayak people in Borneo have used stone chimes which they refer to as kromo.
CHAD
Small stones are used in the rattle known as Yondo which comprises a pipe, normally made of metal.
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CHINA
There are many examples of suspended stone chime bars in China. Original examples found in archaeological finds are made of marble, though later ones tend to have been made mainly from jade. They were generally used for ceremonial purposes and some date back thousands of years. The bian ch’ing or bian'qing is typically made up of a set of sixteen or thirty-two L-shaped tuned slabs, which are suspended in a large frame and struck on their long side with wooden mallets or padded sticks (picture below).
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COLOMBIA
The Murui Muinane people from the region of La Chorrera have long traded in locally quarried granite. A large slab of this they appropriated for use as a gong which they have traditionally used to communicate across distances and for rituals.
ECUADOR
Apparently the National Museum possesses a lithophone, though details are hard to come by.
ETHIOPIA
The use of stone bells, known as dowel has been adapted for Christian use in the Coptic church and can be heard at one of the monasteries on an island in Lake Tana. They hang from a rope and are apparently used functionally as, for example, a dinner gong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTK-fQ97Wj8
FINLAND
In the region of Karelia, on the border of Finland and Russia, rock gongs have been found close to petroglyphs or stone carvings. This suggests they were used ceremonially, probably by Saami people.
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FRANCE
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There are various examples of ringing stones to be found in Brittany. At Menec, near Carnac, there are some standing stones known as pierres creuses or "hollow stones" because of their ring. It is quite possible that the sound of the stones would have been incorporated in the rituals intended for the placed stones. In Le Guildo, on the edge of the Arguenon estuary, there are some boulders which are well known locally for their propensity to ring when struck. A folklore has accumulated around them. At the cave-shrine of St Gildas near Pontivy where, up to his death in 540 AD the Welsh missionary hermit who gave it its name used a rock gong to summon his small congregation to Mass. It may be that the gong had previously been used in pagan ceremonies. It may still be seen and a couple of miles away, in the church of Bieuzy, there is another rock gong.
In the Dordogne there are a number of caves which contain prehistoric paintings in close proximity to stalactites which ring when struck and which show evidence of considerable use.
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In the 19th Century an amateur scientist Honoré Baudre spent over thirty years seeking out suitable pieces of flint for what he termed his geological piano. He was invited to play it at various concerts and exhibitions in France and elsewhere in Europe, including several performancess in Britain.
GERMANY
The composer Carl Orff (1895 –1982) wrote for the lithophone and had one built for him by his student Klaus Becker-Ehmck. The instrument, which he referred to as Steinspiel was used in particular in his opera Antigonae.
Guinea
A number of examples of ringing rocks have been documented. These appear to have been used for communication, for public announcements and as warning signals of imminent danger.
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INDIA
In 1971 some free-standing slabs of ringing stone were discovered in Sankarjang, in the State of Odisha which are thought may have been early lithophones dating back several thousand years. They appeared to have been worked by human hand though it is not established what their function may have been. A paper by two German archaeologists, Paul Yule and Martin Bemmann investigating the possibility that they were lithophones was published in 1988 but it has not been possible to find any further information or subsequent findings.
Other sites in southern India also have evidence of early use of ringing rocks. Some, cited by Catherine Fagg in Rock Music, are to be found in the Gulbarga, though to what extent they were used in any significant way is unclear. There is more evidence in the work of Nicole Boivin who has investigated sites in Sangana-Kupgal, close to the town of Bellary in Karnataka. Here there are ringing rocks with clear evidence of cup-marks to suggest rhythmic playing and they are sited alongside petroglyphs, drawings incised into the rock.
From a more recent, but still ancient time there are many temples in India built with stone pillars which resonate with different pitches, turning the whole building into a musical instrument. Examples may be found in Hampi, the Vittala Temple in Karnataka Picture below), Tadpatri and Lepakshi (Andhra), Madurai, Vaishnavite shrine in Tirunalveli (or Tirunelvelei), Alagar Koil, Tenkasi, Curtalam, Alwar, Tirunagari and Suchindram in Tamil Nadu.
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INDONESIA
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At an archaeological site at Gunung Padang in West Java there is what may have been an ancient form of lithophone. Its local name translates as 'stone gamelan'. Situated within what remains of some kind of significant meeting area or building it is one of two rectangular blocks of stone, both of which ring when struck, though one more so than the other (below).
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In Western Sumatra, in Nagari Talang Anau, there is a set of musical rocks known as talempong batu which may well date back around two thousand years. The name relates to the local metal gongs called talempong and batu meaning stone. Whatever their social or spiritual significance may have been they are still considered to be sacred and treated as such. Looked after by a custodian in the small village where they stand, within a small shelter added in modern times, an incense offering must be made to the ancestral spirits before a visitor is permitted to play upon them (below). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC1_bybRP8g
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JAPAN
Suspended chime bars can sometimes be found in Buddhist temples and are very similar to those from China. It is most common for these to be metallic but early examples were made of stone. Stone is also used in wind chimes.
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KENYA
Rock gongs are to be found in a number of places: in central Kenya, near Embu, on Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria, in Kilifi district close to the coast and elsewhere. Sometimes these have had a ritual, sacred significance, elsewhere they are put to more playful use by children.
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KOREA
Like Japan, Korea adopted the Chinese form of stone chime bars for ceremonial use. In Korea these are known as pyen kyang and comprise sixteen L-shaped slabs suspended within a frame. (below) The picture on the right was taken in the early 20th century and shows stone chimes on sale at a street vendor selling musical instruments.
LIBERIA
There are various examples of stones being used as a simple percussive material, without being characterized by any particular qualities of pitch. The National Sound Archive of the British Library has recordings of Liberian work songs being accompanied by stones.
MALI
In 1966 film-makers Jean Rouch and Gilbert Rouget made the film Batterie Dogon. Éléments pour un étude de rythmes about the use of lithophones by the Dogon people of Mali. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCXPawERK3c There are ringing rocks in various parts of Mali, some of which may have cultural significance.
MALAYSIA
Batu Gong, near Tambunan in Malaysia is apparently known for its musical rocks. They are large pieces of stone which lie on the ground and each emits a range of different tones and pitches depending on where it is struck. Groups of local people gather to play tunes on them (possibly for the benefit of passing tourists). What their past cultural significance might have been isn't clear.
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MEXICO
In Oaxaca, in caves associated with the Mixtec people, there are a number of stalactites, stalagmites and columns which appear to have been used for musical purposes. These caves had particular cultural significance and were used for various rituals. In one cave in particular, Las Ruinas, there are speleothems bearing indentations and markings which suggest they were struck percussively.
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MICRONESIA
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In Pohnpei in the Caroline Islands there is a tradition of grinding the root of kawa, an intoxicant used widely throughout the region, using stones in a large, resonating basalt dish. The preparation turns into a musical performance as the resultant rhythms take over from the job in hand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuhWjJM56tY
MONGOLIA
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There is a now rarely heard Mongolian lithophone known as the shuluun tsargel, whose stones are suspended by cord on a frame. The CD Musique et Chants de Tradition Populaire Mongolie Grem G7511 contains a track played on an instrument made up of fourteen stones by a musician from Bayan Khongor in southern Mongolia.
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NEW ZEALAND
Stones have been used in different ways in Maori music. Unusually, stone (along with bone and wood) has been used to make flutes imitating the sound of birds. In particular the stone koauau is used to replicate the bell-like notes of the bird known as kokako. Stone has also been used in making bullroarers in which “The player’s spirit travels up the cord to create the sound, which then travels on the wind to take the words and dreams of the player to the listeners of the world”
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NAMIBIA
Examples of ringing rocks have been found with multiple cup-marks which suggest that they have been repeatedly pounded, most likely in a rhythmical, musical way, though the exact nature of their use no longer seems to be known.
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NIGERIA
The Yoruba people have a history of using lithophones, but the best documented examples of musical stones in Nigeria are the multiple rock gongs which Bernard Fagg wrote about in the 1950s and later documented in his widow Catherine’s book “Rock Music” (1997). The most notable of these are to be found at Birnin Kudu in Kano State. These rock gongs have been used for communication, ritual and recreational use. It may be that they were also used for ensemble musical performances.
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PORTUGAL
The Escoural Painted Cave in Evora is similar to those in the Dordogne in France in that it combines rock paintings with stalactites which shown signs of having been repeatedly struck. This suggests evidence of rituals going back to paleolithic times.
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RUSSIA
Alla Ablova of the Conservatory of Petrozavodsk in Russia is an authority on ancient lithophones discovered in various parts of the world. She has written in particular about some that appear in a number of legends and folk songs from the Karelia region of Russia and in Saami folk-tales.
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SOUTH AFRICA
Catherine Fagg, in her book Rock Music mentions a number of ringing stones in Britstown District, in central South Africa, but she wasn't able to establish their level of significance within the community. In many parts of the world there is sometimes a reticence about talking about ringing stones, possibly because of their sacred quality, and even their whereabouts remains a local secret.
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SPAIN
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In 1893 Don Antonio Roca y Varez (1866-1925), who held the post of Portuguese vice-consul and was also an eminent amateur photographer, built himself a lithophone. He reportedly performed at least one concert which included excerpts from The Barber of Seville and Il Trovatore.
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SUDAN
Rock gongs are to be found on the west bank of the Nile and were also documented by Bernard Fagg. One was featured in the first of the BBC documentary series Lost Kingdoms of Africa and it was suggested that many other such gongs, whose use dates back to 5000 BC, have been discovered there in the Nubian desert.
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SWEDEN
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A granite ringing rock with 19 small indented bowls or cupules, indicating probable repeated playing, is to be found on the island of Gotland. It is reputed to have been used in ancient times as a sacrificial stone and a pagan altar (below).
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TANZANIA
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The well-documented rock gong shown below is to be found in Moru Koppies in Tanzania's Serengeti national park. Unlike some rock gongs which are part of a larger rock formation, this one is free-standing. The cup-marks, resulting from years of being struck, are clearly visible and cover every side. How it has been used is not certain though it may have played a part in Maasai culture. There are many other examples of ringing rocks to be found in Tanzania, some of which may have been utilised in ancestral and rainmaking ceremonies.
TOGO
The Kabiyé people, from a northern region of Togo play musical stones for ceremonial and ritual purposes. The playing of music is linked strictly with agricultural seasons and these musical stones may only be played for a short period, after harvesting, between November and January. The stones, known as pichanchalassi, are laid on the ground, typically in a set of five, each with a different pitch, and struck with another smaller stone. Several tracks featuring playing of the pichanchalassi can be heard on the Ocora CD Togo.
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UGANDA
Along with Nigeria and Sudan, Uganda can boast of a number of natural rock gongs. These have been documented in Catherine Fagg’s book Rock Music.
It seems that these have sometimes been used ritually and their whereabouts is sometimes a local secret. More profanely they are often used by children as a play area. In 2007 the composer Nigel Osborne undertook a commission in collaboration with London Sinfonietta based on the sounds of rock gongs on the island of Lolui Island situated in Lake Victoria.
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UNITED KINGDOM
In the eighteenth century rocks found in England on the river bed in Skiddaw in the Lake District were found to possess a particularly sonorous quality. In 1785 Peter Crosthwaite, who had opened his own museum in Keswick, assembled a number of stones he had collected to create a small lithophone. Some, he found, were in perfect tune, the rest he tuned himself by chipping away at the stone. They can now be seen in Keswick Museum & Art Gallery where the picture below was taken.
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In the years following a number of people began to make musical instruments using the stone, known as hornfels or spotted shist, meticulously tuning them by cutting them into different length slabs and laying them horizontally. The best known, and largest, was built by Joseph Richardson - he called it the Rock Harmonicon - and he subsequently made a career out of it touring Britain and abroad giving recitals. The instrument may now be seen, and played, in Keswick Museum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGVti8UX4vE
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Also widely known, from the same Lake District area was the Till Family Rock Band, formed by Daniel Till and his two sons, James and William (below). As well as making their own instrument they also took orders from others, includong critic and writer John Ruskin who then kept the lithophone at his house Brantwood by Coniston water. Like the Richardsons they toured extensively in Britain but later found further success by moving to the USA, with William taking charge of the band. A smaller version of the type of instrument seen in the pictures is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum. New York, though not currently on display. (Picture below right William Till in later years in the USA. Thanks to Michael Till for original postcard.)
In nineteenth century Yorkshire, a man called Neddy Dick (below), from Keld in Upper Swaledale was known for his extraordinary collection of musical instruments which included a set of rocks which he played by striking with various implements. Many of these he obtained by scouring the bed of the River Swale. He never achieved the wider success enjoyed by the Richardsons and the Till family: a tour of the country was planned but sadly he died shortly before it could happen.
There are a number of ringing stones to be found in Scotland some of which had ritual significance in ancient times. One of these, Arnhill, also known as The Ringing Stane and The Haddock Stone situated near Huntly in Aberdeenshire is part of a stone circle. Others include The Johnston Stone, also in Aberdeenshire, and The Ringing Stone or Clach o'Choire on the island of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides (below).
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Also in Scotland was to be found 'Wee'Jimmy Scott , a Glaswegian hammer dulcimer player whose LP entitled Magical Memories incuded four tracks on which he played instead a lithophone (below) built in 1880 and played at the time by another Lake District family, the Abrahams. In 1974 Scott made an appearance on BBC TV's Blue Peter playing the lithophone.
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In Wales, to the south of the Preseli Hills lies the Pembrokeshire village of Maenclochog. Its name is Welsh for ringing stone, referring to two large such stones which graced the landscape until the late eighteenth century when they they were broken up for road-building in defiance of the wishes of local people. There is evidence to suggest that the significance of the 'blues stones' which were transported from the Preseli Hills to Stonehenge may have related to their sonorous quality.
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UGANDA
Along with Nigeria and Sudan, Uganda can boast of a number of natural rock gongs. These have been documented in Catherine Fagg’s book Rock Music. It seems that these have sometimes been used ritually and their whereabouts is sometimes a local secret. More profanely they are often used by children as a play area.
USA
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Pipestone quarry, Minnesota, mentioned by Longfellow in “The song of Hiawatha”, is the source of a soft claystone carved by the Sioux into ceremonial pipes. They also created musical instruments from pipestone. These rare example of a non-percussive lithophone is to be found in the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota (below).
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Before the introduction of the guitar and ukulele into Hawaiian music in the early 1880s most instruments used to accompany traditional hulas were percussive. These included pairs of stone castanets consisting of round, flat pieces of basaltic lava, played by the hula dancers. Two such pairs are to be found in the USA’s National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota (below).
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There are various sites in the USA whose ringing rocks have become an attraction in their own right. There may or may not be stories and mythology associated with these rocks but through tourism they have acquired their own cultural importance. There are three particular examples in the state of Pennsylvaia: Ringing Hill Park near Pottsdown, Stony Garden on the side of Haycock Mountain in Bucks County and Ringing Rocks County Park in Upper Black Eddy (below). Visitors are encouraged to play the rocks, with hammers apparently being brought along for the purpose.
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All but one of these 22 ringing stones (below) were found in the San Luis Valley in Colorado. They range in length from 18 to 64cm, each one producing a differently pitched note and all showing signs of tooling, with the ends having been tapered. They also have cupule markings on the surface indicating repeated striking which suggests they had some cultural function and may well have been used musically. The reason for the tapering has not yet been established . Thanks to Marilyn Martorano who has written a report on her findings: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/544b30c0e4b0023e70482546/t/5b6e2e00032be42d14f8ff9d/1533947468606/SHF+2016-AS-006+Lithophone+FINAL+report+text+2018.pdf
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UZBEKISTAN
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Here stone castanets known as qayraq / kayrak or "black stones", are played, two in each hand, to accompany dancing.
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VENEZUELA
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In the early twentieth century various archaeological digs in South America unearthed what were thought to have been examples of stone percussion. A burial cave at Niquivao in Trujillo, Venezuela contained rectangular plates of serpentine with incisions which suggested they may have been suspended for use as a type of chime or gong.
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VIETNAM
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Many sets of differently pitched stones have been found in Vietnam, suggesting possible use as lithophones thousands of years ago. The first of these were famously uncovered by a French archaeologist Georges Condominas in 1949. These stones have continued to be used by some of Vietnam’s minority people such as the Mnong, most of whom live in the Central Highlands. Although not central to Vietnamese traditional music as performed today, their place is acknowledged and some musicians have built their own modern versions and continue to play them. Pictured below: From top: Two sets in Hanoi, one in the ethnographic museum the other in a music shop. A set of three stones formerly used by M'nong people and their current owner demonstrating how they would have been suspended for playing. Modern Vietnamese lithophones played by (left) Mai Lien in Hanoi, (centre) Din Linh and Tuyet Mai in Ho Chi Minh City and (right) ancient stone chimes similar to those used in China and Korea being played in Hanoi by Bha Na. A set of finely tooled lithophones discovered in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam in 2003. Thought to be around 3000 years old they are now in Lam Dong Museum in Da Lat. Other ancient sets stones are rougher hewn and less uniform than these, as can be seen in the photos, and their authenticity as musical instruments has been disputed. The carefully proportioned form of this set would seem to leave little doubt that it had a musical purpose.
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This list includes ringing stones or rocks to whch has been attributed some cultural significance, traditional playing of stone
which may or may still take place and the playing of lithophones prior to the contemprary period (approximately pre-1975).
Some entries are based on a single reference. The list is not comprehensive but is expqnding and new suggestions are welcomed. The photographs used may be copyright. Where possible permission has been sought for their use.
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Following his trip to Vietnam in February 2023 Mike Adcock produced an audio visual travelogue for RootsWorld magazine. https://www.rootsworld.com/feature/lithophones-23.shtml