The Third Man: Zither

The zither looks like an overwhelmingly complicated instrument to play and I’m amazed at people who can master it. Apparently, in the late 1800s, there were zither clubs — full of people who could play this crazy-stringed instrument (some have more than 40 strings)! Members of German communities in America would gather to play music and drink beer. While these socials ended because of Prohibition and the anti-German sentiment that developed during World War I, they have since seen a revival at cultural centers and within the music community.