The Jew's harp is a musical instrument, classifiable as a plucked idiophone, widespread throughout the world and certainly one of the oldest. It consists of a vibrating blade, set in vibration through the fingertip, and a frame, which is placed on the semi-open teeth.

Its traditional area of diffusion is all of Eurasia and part of Oceania, while in America and Africa it came through colonialism and trade.

   The instrument arrived in Europe during the Middle Ages and immediately became an object manufactured (and traded) in large numbers by village blacksmiths, itinerant coppersmiths and real industries. One of these was present in Valsesia, in north-eastern Piedmont, between the end of the fifteenth century (the first document attesting its presence is from 1524) and the end of the nineteenth century and involved numerous hamlets of the valley especially in the municipalities of Riva Valdobbia and Mollia. The annual production could reach over one and a half million instruments and the sale concerned not only all of Europe but also America. The last blacksmith of ribebe (ribéba or ribèbba was the name of the instrument in the Valsesian dialect) died of old age at the beginning of the twentieth century without passing on this traditional manufacture.

    In Austria, more precisely in the village of Molln, a purely industrial production of Jew's harps is still active today, almost as old as that in Valsesia (the first documents date back to the seventeenth century), which provides the instruments of good quality that we are all used to. find in music stores.

Musically, even in Piedmont the Jew's harp was used until the mid-twentieth century in traditional music as an instrument to perform dances, to accompany singing, or as the name suggests to play in solitary intimacy.

A habit linked to the instrument and widespread in almost all the places where it has been or is played is the construction of special cases, almost always in wood and often richly decorated, to protect and transport the instrument.

    While in Northern Italy the instrument disappeared from traditional use, in Italy the Jew's harp is still widely practiced in Campania, Sicily and Sardinia, where it is possible to find numerous players and blacksmiths who produce it.  

    In Piedmont, however, the young blacksmith Luca Boggio is currently active in the Biella area, making both instruments of his own conception and faithful reproductions of the ancient Valsesian models.

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The museum thanks Dr. Alessandro Zolt, author of the interesting text reported above. January 2022.

​To deepen the subject: Alberto Lovatto and Alessandro Zolt, La ribeba in Valsesia nella storia europea dello scacciapensieri, LIM, Lucca, 2019.