What musical instrument was Sting playing on tonight's Academy Award Show?

Hi balooga,

Since I have not seen the Academy Awards yet, I am basing my answer on
the research I have done. I believe the instrument Sting played is
called the hurdy gurdy.

"9:38 p.m.: First that tantric sex business and now his funny little
guitar thingie. Sting and Alison Krauss (who's wearing $2 million
shoes!), as introduced by Lord of the Rings star Liv Tyler, perform
the first nominee for Best Original Song, "You Will Be My Ain True
Love," from Cold Mountain."

http://www.eonline.com/Features/Awards/Oscars2004/Blow/931pm.html 

"9:40 p.m.: Sting, on the telecast monitor, is distracting me. Why is
he rubbing that guitar thing? Isn't this what the five-second delay is
for?"

http://www.eonline.com/Features/Awards/Oscars2004/Backstage/955pm.html

Source: E online
http://www.eonline.com/index.html


Searching in Google Groups, I locate the following thread:

"Hi, can anyone tell me what kind of instrument that was that was
played when Alison first performed. It looked gaelic - never seen
anything like it!
(...)
It is a Hurdy Gurdy." 

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&selm=Wpy0c.27512%24hm4.1758%40newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net


You can see one at: 
Olympic Musical Instruments: Baroque Guitar-Style Hurdy Gurdy
http://www.hurdygurdy.com/products/baroque.htm


Search criteria:
Sting instrument "Academy Awards"
sting played instrument oscars 2004
oscars Sting "Alison Krauss" "Cold Mountain"


I hope the information provided is helpful. If you have any questions
regarding my answer, or believe this is not the instrument played by
Sting at the Academy Awards, please don't hesitate to request for
clarification before rating. I will do my best to further assist you.

Best regards,
Rainbow~