World Sounds

WORLD SOUNDS

THE ACCORDION

The Accordion belongs to the free-reed family of instruments, and came into being in Europe early in the eighteenth century. Its origins may be traced back to the Sheng, the mouth organ of the east, which evolved in China about 3,000 years ago. The two main types come with either a right hand chromatic button-board or keyboard, and between 12 and 200 left hand buttons for the counterbasses, basses and chords. The reeds are grouped in pairs, and the single-action instruments produce different notes when the bellows are opened and closed, whereas the two reeds of each pair are tuned to the same note in the double-action type. Other related

instruments include the Concertina, Harmonica, Melodica, Harmonium, Melodeon, Bandoneon and Reed Organ.

For more information about Accordions, as well as other musical instruments contact Vince Lamberti at VA Lamberti Musical Instruments & Supplies. 24 Johnston Street, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065, Australia. Tel: (61 3) 9486 9411, Fax: (61 3) 9417 1133. I would also like to thank accordionist Giuseppe Costanzo for supplying information.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #33, January 1, 1997

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THE SITAR

The Sitar is a large, fretted long-necked Lute, and was invented by Sufi poet-musician Amir Khusrau in the thirteenth century. The body usually consists of a shell, a long hollow neck, and a small second gourd resonator fitted at the back of the neck. There are six or seven main strings, with four dedicated to playing the melody, and two or three auxiliary ones used to produce the drone. It is played with a twisted-wire plectrum, and there is also between eleven and nineteen additional strings called 'sympathetic strings', which vibrate to create a shimmering tone. These two sets of strings are fitted on different bridges, and there are 20 movable brass frets that can be adjusted to suit the tuning of a specific raga. A feature well suited to the elaborate system of scales that constitute North Indian 'Hindustani' music. The various types include the Tarafdar or Concert Sitar, Sada 'Plain' Sitar, Kachva 'Tortoise' Sitar, Cherubim Lute or Small Sitar, and Carnatic Sitar.

For more information about Indian instruments, as well as other musical instruments contact Roger Lewis at Lewis' Music Store. The business was established in 1961, and today is clearly one of the most interesting music stores in Melbourne. 124 Russell Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia. Tel: (61 3) 9650 9305, Fax: (61 3) 9654 5364. I would also like to thank Maritza Pertout (La Trobe Research Section, State Library of Victoria) for researching information.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #34, February 5, 1997

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THE MBIRA

The Mbira is a tuned percussion instrument and consists of a set of keys fitted to a box, calabash resonator or plain board. The number of keys varies from three to fifty-two, and are made of iron, copper, steel, brass, maize stems, redwood strips or pieces of bamboo. The instrument is often played inside a gourd, with two pieces of river reed or stick wedged between the instrument and gourd to help it resonate. There are also buzzing or rattling devices utilised, which include metal beads, pebbles, membrane, snail shells, sea shells, tortoise shells or bottle caps. There are many types of Mbira found throughout Africa, although its origins are generally associated with the Shona people of Zimbabwe. The popular Shona Mbira Dza Vadzimu 'Mbira of the Ancestral Spirits' usually consists of three

manuals or registers with a total of twenty-two keys, fitted to a tray-shaped soundboard. This type of Mbira is played with downward strokes of the thumbs and the upward stroke of the right hand index finger. A tin plate with bottle caps attached to the lower left corner of the soundboard provides the buzz, and a hole on the lower right corner enables the player to support the instrument by hooking the little finger in the hole. The Mbira is an integral part of African culture and is also known there as Sanzhi, Likembe and Kalimba; whereas Finger Piano, Thumb Piano, Hand Piano, Lamellaphone and Linguaphone are some of the European terms in use.

For more information about Mbiras, as well as other African musical instruments contact Andy or Jenny Laidlaw at Rafiki African Art and Crafts. 84 Smith Street, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065, Australia. Tel & Fax: (61 3) 9416 3019.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #35, March 5, 1997

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THE BATÁ DRUMS

The Batá Drum is a double-headed hourglass-shaped drum and is generally associated with the rites of the Afro-Cuban Lucumí cult. In this religious setting it is considered sacred, due to the belief of possessing the power to communicate with the deities. In light of this fact the playing of the drum was once reserved for men only, although this gender prejudice is no longer relevant today. It is usually carved from a solid piece of log, and is fitted with goatskin heads of contrasting sizes. Independent cords or leather thongs endow these heads with two separate tunings, and another cord secures the drum horizontally on

the player's lap. On the modern manufactured version such as the LP model the heads are tuned with metal hardware. It is traditionally played in an ensemble that includes the three sizes, which from largest to smallest are known as the iyá, itólele and okónkolo. The iyá is formally played by the master drummer, and is responsible for the most complex parts.

For more information about Batá Drums, as well as other percussion instruments contact Frank Corniola at Drumtek. 529 High Street, Northcote, Victoria 3070, Australia. Tel: (61 3) 9482 5550, Fax: (61 3) 9482 1623.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #36, April 9, 1997

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THE SAZ

The Saz belongs to the 'Tanbur' family of stringed instruments, and has a history that encompasses five millennia. Its origins are attributed to the long-necked lutes of ancient Mesopotamia (the Akkadian era of modern Iraq), and was later adopted by other Islamic musical traditions of the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. The Saz has a pear-shaped body with soundholes, and is either carved out of a single piece of wood or assembled with interlocking parts. Most types have 6 to 10 metal strings in double or triple courses, and these courses have either a melodic, harmonic or drone function. The Bosnian type has 18 or 19 movable or fixed frets, while the Albanian up to 20. It is usually played with a cherry-tree bark plectrum, and mostly used to accompany love songs. Other related instruments include the Dutar (Iran), Baglama, Bozuk, Tambura, Bulgari, Cagur, Cogur, Cura, Divan Sazi, Meydan Sazi (Turkey), Drunka, Trambura, Bajlama, Bulgaruya (Bulgaria), Pivacka Tambura, Sargija (Bosnia), Tambura Dvozica and Tamburica (Croatia).

For more information about the Saz, as well as other musical instruments contact Tony Yammouni at Main Street Music. 135 Main Street, Greensborough, Victoria 3088, Australia. Tel: (61 3) 9434 7041, 9435 4285, Fax: (61 3) 9434 7361.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #38, June 5, 1997

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THE ZAMPOÑA

The Panpipe is an ancient instrument, and is classified by Hornbostel and Sachs as an aerophone or a set of end-blown pipes. It is widely utilized in the musical traditions of the Andean highlands, East Africa, Oceania and Romania. Musicologists suggest a Chinese origin, with the idea that ocean currents attributed to its global distribution. The Andean panpipes usually consist of bamboo or cane tubes, arranged in either staircase or zigzag fashion, and bound together in two ranks. The legacy of Francisco Pizarro and the Spanish conquest of the Inca empire of Tahuantinsuyo in 1533 may have introduced the stringed instruments to the indigenous populations, but the Zampoñas (the Spanish term for South

American Andean panpipes) had made their cultural impact two millennia earlier. There are many types found in the region, such as the Kamu-Purui of the Cuna Indians of Panama, which are built in pairs categorized as male and female (or man and wife), and have a hocket technique applied in performance whereby two players share the melody. The Rondador of Ecuador is either an 8-tube, 15-tube or 20 to 34-tube panpipe made out of cane, condor or vulture feathers, while the Siku and Sikuri of the Bolivian Alti Plano are the ensemble instruments of the Aymara and Quechua Indians. The most obscure and mysterious panpipe is the Veo-Pame of the Tucanos Indians of Amazonia, which is especially constructed for a specific ritual or sacred ceremony to only then face destruction after its debut performance. Other varieties include the Antara of Peru, Castra-Puercas or Capador of Colombia and Fusa or Siku of north west Argentina.

For more information about the Zampoña, as well as other Latin American musical instruments contact Alejandro Vargas at the Latin American School of Music. 492 Victoria Street, West Brunswick , Victoria 3055, Australia. Tel & Fax: (61 3) 9317 7421.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #39, July 2, 1997

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THE DARABUKKA

The Darabukka is a single-headed Goblet drum originally used in Babylonia and Sumeria around 1100 BC, with a current geographical distribution that encompasses most of the world's Islamic cultures. It usually has a goatskin head that is laced, pegged or glued to a goblet-shaped body made of wood, metal or pottery with an open bottom. In Iran it is known as the Dombak, Dombek or Zarb and is an integral part of classical Persian music, which incidentally is the genre's only percussive element. In this region it is carved from a single piece of walnut or mulberry wood, while at the other end of the spectrum, Turkey's Dümbelek is made of clay or plated copper, and is played by both men and women mainly in folk ensembles. The Goblet drums found in Malaysia and Indonesia consist of a

snakeskin head laced with split cane to a body that utilizes wood for its construction. Other Goblet drums include the Derbocka of the Andalusian ensembles (Morocco and Algeria), Darabuke (Albania), Hoqa of the Nile boatmen (Egypt) and Zirbaghali (Afghanistan).

For more information about the Darabukka, as well as other percussion instruments contact Frank Corniola at Drumtek. 529 High Street, Northcote, Victoria 3070, Australia. Tel: (61 3) 9482 5550, Fax: (61 3) 9482 1623.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #40, August 6, 1997

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THE XYLOPHONE

The Xylophone is a percussion instrument consisting of a set of tuned bars usually made of wood or bamboo, and is utilized in many of the folk music traditions of Africa, Central and South America, South-East Asia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Eastern Europe. The two main types include instruments with free keys, which are either supported by the player's legs or thighs, banana-tree trunks, straw bundles, logs, a pit or trough, and those with

permanently fixed keys mounted on a frame, box or trough. The latter may also have single or multiple calabash, bamboo, cattle horn, wood or clay resonators, as well as an assortment of buzzing devices. Xylophones are played with one, two or three single beaters or with two pairs of beaters by one to four players. The most common variety found throughout South-East Asia has keys suspended over a wooden trough resonator, whereas the trough Gambang with bedded keys is generally associated with the classical Gamelan ensembles of Java, Madura, Sumatra and Kalimantan. In Central America, the Marimba de Tecomales of Guatemala is played by four players, and is a seven-octave instrument with tuned calabash resonators that have an attached vibrating membrane of pig intestine to produce the characteristic buzzing. The Xylophone was first formally introduced into western classical music by Ferdinand Kauer in his 'Sei Variazioni' of c1810, and has since been adopted as a regular orchestral element. The modern European version has a compass of up to four octaves with multiple tube resonators, and its keys are arranged in two distinct rows like a piano keyboard. The bars are usually made of rosewood or a synthetic material such as kelon or klyperon.

For more information about Xylophones, as well as other African musical instruments contact Andy or Jenny Laidlaw at Rafiki African Art and Crafts. 84 Smith Street, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065, Australia. Tel & Fax: (61 3) 9416 3019.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #41, September 3, 1997

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THE OCARINA

The Ocarina belongs to the vessel flute family of wind instruments, and in ancient Egypt these globular or vessel shaped aerophones were considered to be endowed with magical properties. In this region they were then made of gourd or hollowed coconut, which is still the case today with the instruments found in Africa, Oceania and North America. Another early variety of vessel flute is the Xun of the Han Chinese, which was an end-blown, egg-shaped clay aerophone with three to eight finger-holes, and used principally in state rituals. The later standard western

Ocarina was presumably invented around 1860 by Giuseppe Donati of Budrio, Italy, acquiring the commonly associated vessel shape and terracotta construction. This type consists of a duct mouthpiece with eight finger-holes on one side and two thumb-holes on the other. In the Americas Ocarinas are popularly utilized in Costa Rica, and by many of the indigenous societies of the continent, namely the Maya of Guatemala, Guaymi of Panama, and the Iawa and Bora of Peru who have instruments made of beeswax or clay. A related instrument is the Whistling Pot of South America, which is essentially a pair of joined clay pots made to sound by blowing water from one pot into another, forcing air through a whistle head. In common tradition with the folk instruments of Romania and many early Ocarinas these vessel flutes are often zoomorphic or anthropomorphic.

For more information about Ocarinas, as well as other musical instruments contact Vince Lamberti at VA Lamberti Musical Instruments & Supplies. 24 Johnston Street, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065, Australia. Tel: (61 3) 9486 9411, Fax: (61 3) 9417 1133.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #42, October 8, 1997

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THE TABLA

The Tabla is a pair of small asymmetrical, tuned hand-played drums, and it is widely utilized in the music of Hindu and Muslim cultures of North and Central India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is the essential percussive component of North Indian ‘Hindustani’ classical music, as well as of the many other vocal, instrumental, dance, popular and devotional genres of the upper Indian subcontinent. The pair consists of the ‘Tabla’ or ‘Daya’ (right), which is the cone-shaped right-hand treble drum that sounds the tonic drone note, and the

kettle-shaped left-hand bass drum, generally referred to as the ‘Duggi’, ‘Dagga’ or ‘Baya’ (left). The treble drum is usually made of hardwoods, namely bijisar or bijyaisar (Shorea robusta) and sisam or siso (Dalbergia sissoo), whereas the bass drum is either constructed out of copper and chrome or clay. The two drums feature goatskin heads that are laced with leather thongs to the body, with an additional circular strip of skin positioned on the outer edge and a basically centred (off centre on the bass drum) black ring of iron filings, soot and gum for added resonance and tone variety. The player uses the fingers to produce a vast array of closed and open tones, with the characteristic glissandi executed by means of pressure applied on the bass drum with the heel of the left hand.

For more information about Indian instruments, as well as other musical instruments contact Matthew McDonald at Community Aid Abroad, One World Shop. Shop 45, Walk Arcade, Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia. Tel: (61 3) 9650 6060, Fax: (61 3) 9650 5505. Community Aid Abroad is the Australian member of Oxfam International and supports development projects overseas and in Aboriginal Australia. 156 George Street, Fitzroy, Victoria, 3065, Australia. Tel: (61 3) 9289 9444, Fax: (61 3) 9419 5318. Community Aid Abroad Home Page.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #43, November 5, 1997

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THE BONANG

The Bonang belongs to the bossed gong-chime family of instruments, and is generally associated with the Gamelan ensembles of the Javanese and Balinese cultures of the South-east Asian continent, and the Indonesian and Philippine archipelagos. The instrument consists of a set of small bronze or iron bossed gongs arranged in one or two parallel rows, which are either supported by a single-row, L-shaped or U-shaped wooden frame. A Bonang is usually made up of between four to nineteen gongs, and is played with a pair of sticks by

one to four players. There are two principal tuning systems in the region, a hemitonic seven-note system and an anhemitonic five-note system, referred to as ‘saih pitu’ and ‘saih gender wayang’ in Bali, ‘pelog’ and ‘slendro’ in Central and East Java, and ‘pelog degung’ and ‘salendro’ in West Java. A Gamelan orchestra will commonly comprise of two complete sets of instruments to accommodate these two modal traditions, and because of the fact that the actual tuning scheme differs from village to village, hence no universal standardisation of pitch, the metallophones are not interchangable with other ensembles. The Gamelan has a prominent role in religious rites and dances, therefore its instruments have a sacred regard, forbidding the disrespectful act of walking over them. Other variant terms for Bonang in South-east Asia include Kolenang, Kromong and Renteng.

For more information about Bonangs, as well as other Indonesian musical instruments contact Roger Lewis at Lewis’ Music Store. The business was established in 1961, and today is clearly one of the most interesting music stores in Melbourne. 124 Russell Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia. Tel: (03) 9650 9305, Fax: (03) 9654 5364.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #46, February 4, 1998

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THE SHENG

The Sheng or ‘mouth organ of the East’ belongs to the free-reed family, and is one of the oldest Chinese instruments, with a history that dates back prior to the time of Confucius (551-479 BC). It originates from East Asia, and up until the twentieth century was a significant part of Confucian ceremonial music, but today it is more common in regional folksong and theatrical music settings. The instrument is made up of two parts, which consist of a round copper base with an attached mouthpiece and a set of mounted bamboo pipes arranged in circular fashion. The contemporary Sheng has 17 pipes, and the three major types include one with four silent reeds, a second with three and a third with all pipes able to produce a tone. The playing technique involves covering one or more finger-holes while blowing air through the mouthpiece to produce single notes or alternatively chords usually made of up fourth and fifth harmonies. The variant calabash Sheng played by the ‘I’ people of Southwest China is locally referred to as the Hu-lu.

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'Mixdown' Monthly ~ Issue #56, December 2, 1998

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