Mara Carlyle is an English singer-songwriter, producer, and arranger who also plays the musical saw and the ukulele. She was raised in Shropshire, England and now lives in London.
English singer-songwriter Mara Carlyle at the Union Chapel in London, February 2012
A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque friction idiophone with direct friction (132.22) under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification, and as a metal sheet played by friction (151) under the revision of the Hornbostel-Sachs classification by the MIMO Consortium.
A busker playing a musical saw in Prague
A musical saw, without teeth