The tom is a plucked lamellophone thumb piano used in the traditional music of the Nuer[1] and Anuak ethnic groups of western Ethiopia. The instruments is also called thoom Otieno and may also be spelled toom and thom.[2]
Thoom is a Anywaa word.[2] Besides being a word for a thumb piano, the word is used generally by parts of the country’s population to mean “musical instrument.”[1] It is also the name of an Ethiopian lyre. [2]
The state-run Ras Theatre brought music from different parts of Ethiopia to its stage, including the ‘’tom’’, played by the “Nilo-Saharan peoples from the Gambela Region.“ [1] The instrument was also used in some pieces performed by Orchestra Ethiopia in the 1960s.