The world is full of musical instruments with varying degrees of notoriety. Many instruments, like the guitar and piano, have legions of followers, while others like the sheng only get picked up by a select few. The Udar falls into that latter category with Mr. Sato having just become one of the very few people who have ever picked one up.

Join us as we listen to the musical stylings of the Udar as played by its inventor Michinobu Uda and learn a little about how it works.

The Udar was created over ten years by guitarist Michinobu Uda (Uda + guitar = Udar). It has a cylindrical body which plugs into an amplifier. The cylinder has a rope coiled around it with a sensor that detects pressure applied to it. Where the rope is touched and how hard controls the pitch and volume.

▼ The wires sticking out of the side allow the player to hold it with their wrists while playing the notes

The musical scale is printed around the inside marking off the notes including flats and sharps. The left hand controls the bass octaves while the right hand manipulates the higher notes for a total of eight octaves.

▼ The amp also acts as a case for the Udar

Mr. Sato likened the Udar to an accordion but really the differences between the two instruments are many and there isn’t anything that’s played quite like the Udar. One advantage is that the circular arrangement of notes makes playing chords a little more intuitive to make with one’s fingers.

Nevertheless, Mr. Sato felt that like any instrument it would require considerably practice to become proficient. Here’s a couple of photos of him trying to work out “Mary Had a Little Lamb” (audio of the event was quickly disposed of and the hard drive smashed to pieces by Mr. Sato).

And now here’s Michinobu Uda doing a lovely rendition of “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” by Ryuichi Sakamoto from the movie of the same name.

The Udar got some buzz online after a demonstration of Uda playing the Final Fantasy theme music was posted on YouTube.

The Udar still faces something of an uphill battle before it can become a household name, but it certainly could get into that level of fame where the Theremin and spoons reside. Mr. Sato said that he could feel the appeal of the instrument especially when hearing video game music played on it. Despite the initial difficulty, he told us, he wouldn’t mind trying to learn some more.

If you’d like to see a Udar in action, performances are held at the Open Source Café in the Shimokitazawa area of Tokyo. Anyone who wants to see is invited!

Information
Open Source Café
6-11-14-G1 Shirota, Setagaya, Tokyo
10:00 to 20:00
Open every day except Friday

Source: Electric Instrument Udar
Original Article by Mr. Sato
Photos: RocketNews24
Video: YouTube – Michinobu Uda, TokyoTek

▼ A brief explanatory video of the Udar in Japanese

▼ We toyed with Udar number 48 version 4.5