Dear Yahoo!: What was the instrument Sting played on the Academy Awards? Tim Baltimore, Maryland Dear Tim: This year's Academy Awards was wanting in excitement. A distinct lack of controversy left Oscar 2004 with few burning questions after the Lord of the Rings toddled off with the final trophy. While some wonder whether Uma Thurman owns a mirror, the one real head scratcher came when Sting joined Alison Krauss for a rendition of the Oscar-nominated "You Will Be My Ain True Love" from Cold Mountain. Befitting a man who takes himself seriously, a somber Sting took his place next to Krauss playing a funny-looking stringed instrument with a suspicious hand crank that all but screamed "Look at me!". To find out what the musical contraption was, we started with the Yahoo! Directory category for Sting. After an unfulfilling cruise through his flashy official site, we turned to StingUs and found the answer. About halfway down this month's headlines, an entry fingers the wheeled instrument as the hurdy-gurdy. A quick tour of the site's message boards offered up a couple of threads that also identify the instrument in question. So, what the heck is a hurdy-gurdy? At the Hurdy-Gurdy FAQ, we found this answer: The hurdy-gurdy is a stringed instrument in which the strings are rubbed by a rosined wheel instead of a bow. The wheel is turned by the player's right hand, while the left hand plays the tune on the keys in the keybox. Two of the strings (usually), called the chanters or melody strings, run though the keybox and their vibrating length is shortened by the key pressing against it. The FAQ answers other questions about the instrument's name and history. If you're intent on emulating Sting, Olympic Musical Instruments offers a handcrafted Luteback Hurdy Gurdy for a mere $4,400. The final word on the only burning question from this year's ceremony goes to Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, who humorously quipped, "Particularly upsetting, I lost my Oscar pool on the tie-breaker question, 'Will Sting play the hurdy-gurdy?'" ~Anne