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The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures. The term "citre" is also used more broadly, to describe the entire family of stringed instruments in which the strings do not extend beyond the sounding box, including the hammered dulcimer, psaltery, Appalachian dulcimer, guzheng (Chinese zither), koto, kantele, gayageum, dàn tranh, kanun, autoharp, santoor, yangqin, piano, harpsichord, santur, swarmandal, and others. The word "citrara" is derived from the Greek word kithara, an instrument from classical times used in Ancient Greece and later throughout the Roman Empire and in the Arab world (Arabic ??????); the word "guitar" derives from "kithara" as well. The earliest known instrument of the zither family is a Chinese guqin found in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng dating from 433 BC, featuring tuning pegs, a bridge and goose-like feet.[1] In modern entertainment, the zither is perhaps most famous for its role in the soundtrack, especially in the opening scene, of the classic film noir The Third Man. The instrument has a prominent solo in one of Johann Strauss II's most famous waltzes, "Tales from the Vienna Woods". It is also used by multi-instrumentalist Laraaji on the third release of Brian Eno's ambient music series, Ambient 3 Day of Radiance. In more popular music, Australian-born singer Shirley Abicair popularised the zither when she used it widely as accompaniment in her popular TV shows, live performances and recordings in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. More recently, Jerusalem-based multi-instrumentalist Bradley Fish has used zithers in a multitude of styles on the soundtracks of various Sony Digital Pictures films. In Slovenia, at the end of the 19th century, in particular in small towns and boroughs the concert zither was well-liked and inspired people to make music at home.
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