Biafran Blog: Travel Document

Travel Document.

The Hhodja is basically made up of 8 or 9 strips of hard wood joined together with glue and covered at the bottom with a piece of metal plate.
The strips of wood are about 7 inches long and are about 0.5 of an inch wide and 0.25 of an inch thick.

They are shaped rectangles (of basic rectangular cross-section with tapered edges— trapezoids then) so as to make the hollowed out interior of the
instrument circular in cross-section when viewed plan-wise.
Basic variations to design can be made to alter the timbre of the instrument. One can envision fabrications from metal and plastic. Being rather eccentric and purist in his outlook, the inventor worked with wood.

About 12 whole fabrications have been completed and attempts were made with solid body hard wood at first. The difficulty with hand boring the holes led to completed designs with strips of wood. The blowing edge can be left as clear wood or finished with metal or plastic.

Instruments pitched basically at Eb or G# and G have all been made.

The invention has a patent pending registration with interested offices of
intellectual property in Nigeria and maybe abroad.
This design can be copied and this document can be downloaded freely from creative commons net centres.

If you are lucky enough to own one of these palmfuls of music, you may pass them on for a fee or for free, provided that the creator’s rights are safeguarded and this document is passed on with the instrument itself.

Download fresh copies at http://creativecommons.com.
Just search under Hhoja.

You might be able to hear actual samples of the instrument played or
see pictures of the creator playing this instrument or see clips of the
instrumental video clips. http://youtube.com/hhoja.