Michael O’Shea (11 July 1947 - 18 December 1991) was an experimental folk musician from Newry, Northern Ireland, who played a unique handmade string instrument he called “Mo Chara” (Irish for “My Friend”), loosely based on the blueprints for a North African zither. The instrument had seventeen main strings, with six more sympathetic strings which added a profound resonance similar to a sitar. It typically played by O'Shea with a pair of sticks (often chopsticks, drumsticks, or paintbrush handles) Read more on Last.fm