Growing up in Algeria’s mountainous Kabylia region, Moh Alileche taught himself to play a homemade version of the country’s national instrument, the mondol, constructed out of a rectangular one-gallon Mobil oil can and a piece of wood serving as a neck strung with a single string. On Friday, Alileche performs at Ashkenaz playing a full-fledged mondol, which produces a rich, resonant, twangy sound with its large lute-like body and 10 silk strings.

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