[4] It has been compared to the ennanga of Uganda and harp designs used in Sumer and ancient Egypt as far back as 3000 BC.

[5] The Kafir harp is known in the Nuristani languages as Kamviri voč [ˈvot͡ʃ], Kata-vari voj [ˈβod͡ʒ], Ashkun vẫć [ˈβãt͡s], and Waigali vâj [ˈvad͡ʒ].

One harp collected in an anthropological expedition in the 1950s had four strings that corresponded to the central tetrachord of the Dorian mode.

When one plays the Kafir harp one has to balance the sound box on the left arm, leaving the strings to face up, rather than away from the musician.

[4] The Nuristanis, who claim a lineage back to Alexander the Great's Macedonian armies and who converted to Islam in the late 19th century, inhabit a remote mountain area in the north-east.