Nyckelharpa with decorative keybox cover, ca. 1810 - 1876
Catalog entry at Mimo International
Wikipedia articlefor Nyckelharpa
Nyckelharpa (Swedish: [ˈnʏ̂kːɛlˌharːpa], roughly "keyed fiddle" in Swedish, lit. 'key-harp', plural: nyckelharpor) is a "keyed" bowed chordophone, primarily originating from Sweden in its modern form, but with its historical roots scattered across medieval Europe. It is similar in appearance to a fiddle or violin but larger (in its earlier forms essentially a modified vielle), which employs key-actuated tangents along the neck to change the pitch during play, much like a hurdy-gurdy.