Jähnichen, Gisa (2023). Stick Zithers and their Sound in the Regional Context of Mainland Southeast Asia. Musical Bows and Zithers Along the Great Silk Road. Edited by Xiao Mei and Gisa Jähnichen. Berlin: Logos, 105-116. (original) (raw)
This paper analyses the use of the serunai in a small ensemble accompanying silat (martial arts) in Kampung Stong, a larger village in the mountainous area of Kelantan, Malaysia, which was founded following new settlement policies in the late 1960s. The serunai is the only wind instrument used in this village. It is also the only instrument carrying a melody over a time longer than a period of a few bars. However, the instrument is regularly replicated and also sold to neighbouring villages. Beginning with the story of the village and its instrument maker, player, and cultural activist Ramli bin Yusof, the musical analysis of a silat performance relates a specific rule system that guides the ensemble as well as the performing fighters. Technical characteristics and playing techniques are part of this analysis. Finally, aesthetics in performance and their relation to sound symbolism are discussed. The author has conducted extensive field work in this area and provides first-hand information.
The present study takes a closer look at the historical background of shawms 1 observed in the East African region. The shawm family comprises single and double reed instruments (clarinets and oboes), but the discussion will focus on double reed instruments. An attempt is made to find out whether double reed instruments used in this region have any historical link with the Great Silk Road. Of course, it is not easy to trace the exact origin and the worldwide diffusion of these musical instruments due to lack of written accounts and empirical data, as well as due to little current scholarly attention. Materials for the present inquiry derive from fieldwork conducted in 2005 on the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts, including the islands of Pemba and Zanzibar. Supplementary data comprise written accounts, as well as commercial and non-commercial audiovisual recordings. Given the fact that shawms are of ancient derivation, the study attempts at providing an overview about possible cultural relations between the East African region and the outside world, in which principally the activities of trade and sea routes have played a vital role. Subsequently, possible exchanges of musical cultures and practices as well as possible migrations of double reed instruments to East Africa belong to the core points of my investigation.
Routledge eBooks, 2022
This article follows the itinerary of a ‘twin horn’ (horn faet) loudspeaker in Thailand. Dating from the 1960s, the model was initially used by the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Attached in rows to aeroplanes, they were powerful public address speakers, loud enough to amplify music, slogans, and information. The speakers were used in operations flying from US bases in the Thai Northeast to the Vietnam battleground. They were also used in the communist-sensitive areas of Thailand in counter-insurgency operations. Although mostly used from the air, Thai/US mobile teams also used the speakers to present movies on large screens, regional molam songs, and other propaganda to ‘remote villagers’. As the US retreated from Vietnam and Thailand in 1972–1973, the equipment was either given to government offices or exchanged on the black market. From this point, the horns passed from hand to hand. In 1990, Acan Naem decided to form a processional band in the Lom Sak district of Phetchabun province. This band adopted the twin horn and established a local genre, called phin prayuk, in which, five generations later, musicians continue to play. The horn loudspeaker is now appreciated for its sound and is a necessary component of any acknowledged phin prayuk band. Keeping track of the circulation of this model of loudspeaker and of the discourses it triggered, this chapter examines the malleability of sound technology. By looking at United States reports of the psychological battlefront in the Northeast, oral history of the coming of amplification and its adoption, and including a study on contemporary aesthetics, repertoire, and the ritual roles of a local music genre featuring the twin horn, I outline the role played by the horn in the Thai adoption of electrical sound amplification technology.
The Ranat and Bong-Lang : the question of origin of the Thai xylophones
1979
In the early 1970's a musical instrument known as the bong-lang from Galasin (Kalasin) province in the northeast region of Thailand was discovered by scholars in Bangkok. The bong-lang is a vertical xylophone, i.e., a succession of struck hardwood logs each with its own pitch. Some Thai scholars asserted that the bong-lang was the long-sought ancestor of the horizontal xylophone (ranat) found in central Thai classical ensembles. Because Galasin province was isolated due to poor roads until about 1970 and is a culturally conservative area, the theory seemed plausible. Although we were skeptical of a direct relationship between the bong-lang and ranat, in 1973 we began investigating the origin and lore of the bong-lang. Interviews were conducted in Ban Na-jan (Pai subdistrict, Miiang district) in Galasin province, the center of bong-lang activity, both with musicians and the eldest people who could be found. Additional information was gleaned from interviews elsewhere in the region. While not claiming to have found the indisputable truth regarding the relationship between the two xylophones, we feel the following suggests several conclusions, some of them more probable than others.
Twenty-Four Drums, Two Lands: Performing Glocalization of the 24 Festive Drums in Malaysia and China
Journal of Music Research, 2024
The enormous sound amplitude of the 24 Festive Drums is a thrilling performative spectacle in Malaysia's cultural scene. Being native to the Malaysian sonic landscape, the drums exhibit distinguishable Chinese characteristics in nature: it was established in 1988 when renowned Malaysian intellectuals Tan Chai Puan (陳再藩) and the late Tan Hooi Song (陳徽崇) integrated the conception of the "jieling" (節令) into the drum design and the stylistic performance. The spirited, captivating rhythm of the membranophones was then an instant success as a well-received cultural feast, eventually making the performing art a highly regarded national heritage. This ethnographic study examines explicitly the 24 Festive Drums that flourished in Malaysia and China. Based on in-depth interviews with 15 professionals involved in the 24 Festive Drums in China and Malaysia, this study investigates how the performance with Chinese cultural characteristics displays a combination of globalization and localization. The findings indicate that, in the context of globalization, the drum demonstrates "glocal" attributes in the process of Chinese cultural dissemination and reflects these characteristics in the "glocal" identity construction among the practitioners. It suggests that the identity is not an isolated individuality, but a composite identity constantly constructed and reshaped in the cultural flow of integration between global and local cultures.
Taxonomies of Taiwanese Aboriginal Musical Instruments
2015
This research aims to discover the indigenous taxonomy systems of Taiwanese aboriginal instruments. This is a cross-cultural investigation providing a panoramic perspective on the musical instruments of Taiwanese aborigines (Austronesians). The term 'musical instrument' is used in its broadest sense to refer to all sound-producing instruments in this research. There are many reasons for undertaking this research. For example, until now, few people have known what forms of aboriginal musical instruments have existed throughout the island of Taiwan, and there has been little scholarly discussion about their indigenous names and classifications. iii Table of Contents v List of Figures, Tables and Examples vii Abbreviations xvii Character List of Key Terms xviii Glossary of Taiwanese Aboriginal Instruments xxi Chapter 1. Introduction Background 1 Methods and Scope of Study 8 Chapter Outline 16 Chapter 2. Theory, Method and Literature 19 2.1 Literature Review 2.1.1 Historical literature review 19 2.1.2 The Review of Taiwan's Aboriginal Music in the New Grove 40 2.1.3 The Review of Chun-Bin Chen's Voices of Double Marginality 49 2.1.4 The Review of Chou Chiener's Experience and Fieldwork 59 2.2 Musical Ethnography At Home 65 2.3 Authenticity 75 Chapter 3. Tradition, Change, and Cultural Policy 82 3.1 Chuan Tong (Tradition) vis-à-vis Xian Dai (Modernity) 84 3.2 Nei (Inside/Native) vis-à-vis Wai (Outside/Foreign) 89 3.3 Shang (Superior) vis-à-vis Xia (Inferior) 92 3.4 Cultural Policy and Aboriginal Musical Instruments 97 3.4.1 The Development of Cultural Policy 97 3.4.2 The Preservation of Aboriginal Instruments 3.4.3 The Reconstruction of Aboriginal Instruments 116 Chapter 4. Archival Sources: Representation through Museumification 4.1 Museums and Archives 4.1.1 The Antique Bronze Bell in Museums 124 4.1.2 The Indigenous Names of the Favorlang Musical Instruments in Archives 4.
Drums and Drum Ensembles along the Great Silk Road, 2021
The North Vietnamese ca trù is since more than 10 years on the list of UNESCO's Intangible Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. The Ensemble consists of a singer with a clapper, a lute-player, and a drummer. The audience traditionally chose the drummer. The function of the drummer and the drum as a musical instrument influencing the musical flow can be analysed using the author's field work material collected at the turn from the 20th to the 21st century. This paper questions actual methods of safeguarding principles and suggests creative changes in approaching fieldwork outcomes and the re-use of audiovisual material. At the same time, analysing the multi-layered function of drumming in this context, delivers a striking example of diversity in development directions and the joint application of techniques by the same individual.
Guqin and Guzheng: the historical and contemporary development of two Chinese musical instruments
1996
This thesis examines two Chinese musical instruments, the gnqiti, a seven-string zither, and the guzheng, a larger zither of up to twenty-one or more strings. Both of the instruments appear to have been in existence since early times, but the gi/qifi has traditionally been much more heavily documented due to its associations with Confucianism and the Uterary upper classes. Consequently references to the instrument may be found in the early classical writings and, in later times, preserved in handbooks for the instrument. The guzheng did not enjoy these same associations and was viewed much more as an instrument of the people. However, since it was a versatile instrument it gradually became used for music of all classes. This thesis begins by examining some of early musical history behind the two instruments including some of the development of writing, classical texts, and the philosophies of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. In examining the organological development of the guqin and guzheng similarities are drawn with the zithers found in neighbouring countries. In some cases such instruments have been more greatly preserved in these countries than in China itself The development of the guzheng is often difiBcult to trace due to similarities with the se, another Chinese zither of up to fifty strings. The literary history of the guqin is further shown by the systems of notation used for notating the musical scores of the instrument. The earliest known guqin tablature is wenzipu, a system of writing down playing instructions in full script, unlike the later systems which adopted shorthand simplified methods. It is difficult to separate the system of notation and performance directions as understood in Western music and so these two systems are discussed together. It is difficult to make generalisations about the music of the guqin and guzheng due to vast area of China throughout which both instruments are diflftised. In examining some of the regional styles of playing, further influences upon the music such as dialect and folk-singing may be seen. The final chapter moves into the twentieth century and examines how political developments have encouraged the development of the guzheng whilst stifling the guqin. The thesis concludes that the guqin has been preserved by its philosophical associations, while the versatility of the guzheng has allowed it to develop according to the musical requirements of society. In the twentieth century however, the instruments have begun to share their social contexts bringing them closer together. List of Contents Acknowledgements Conventions used Chronology of China Map-The Provinces of China List of Figures Guain and Guzhene: the Historical and Contemporary Development of Two Chinese Musical Instruments-Introduction
Shima: the International Journal of Research into Island Cultures, 2017
The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how musicians in the Solomon Islands accepted an audio technology ― the electronic tuner ― and how it influenced their musical activities. Through an ethnographic case study of how indigenous musicians thought and managed the materiality of their musical instruments, I show that they regarded the audio technology as a symbol of a global standard of music in contrast to the elastic materiality of their bamboo instruments. While the process may be understood as a standardisation of indigenous music that involved the musicians adopting a rationalistic or modernistic way of thinking, I argue that we also can interpret the phenomenon as reflecting a continuity between the audio technology and the magical significance they assigned to their indigenous instrumental music. In the conclusion, I discuss how we might describe and analyse the hybridisation of indigenous musical technique and audio technology.
2024
Traditional Chinese fiddle instruments have a long history, with their origins dating back over a thousand years. They are an integral part of Chinese culture and have evolved over time, incorporating various regional styles and techniques. The objective is to examine the historical perspective on literacy and learning resources of traditional Chinese fiddle musical instruments in Jiangxi Province, with a primary focus on Jiujiang City. The study employs a multidisciplinary approach, drawing from ethnomusicology, organology, and musical acoustics, to unravel the intricate cultural, social, and historical context of fiddle music. Key informants, including master craftsmen and experts in fiddle production, provide valuable insights into the region’s musical heritage. The research also explores the emergence of the Zhonghu, a plucked stringed instrument, and its role in Chinese folk music. The study’s findings reveal the rich cultural landscape of Jiujiang City, characterized by the fusion of fiddle music with silk and bamboo music, private music clubs, religious ceremonies, and Taoist traditions. In conclusion, this research contributes to the preservation and enrichment of Jiangxi’s cultural heritage and offers insights into the continued development of traditional Chinese fiddle music education and cultural preservation.
An exploration of Thai traditional music for Western percussion instruments
2018
Lastly, thank you for love and support from my parents, family, and friends to help me make this journey. This dream would not have come true without their constant encouragement. And finally, I apologize and thank anyone whose name might be missing here who has been part of my musical path: I always appreciate your inspiration and help every day of my life.
FoMRHI Quarterly, 2000
[FROM THE FIRST PARAGRAPH:] Nineteenth-century literature, especially French “exotic” literature, contains many helpful references to the sorts of instruments and sounds that composers of the period were trying to reintroduce or re-create in their own works in the “Ancient Oriental” genre. Gustave Flaubert’s Salammbô and Hector Berlioz’s epic opera Les Troyens, works that are exactly contemporaneous, provide one example of this aesthetic parallel. Later in the century, a similarity may also be demonstrated between the instruments mentioned in Pierre Louÿs’ Aphrodite and the delicate sound world which Claude Debussy strove to evoke in his compositions, including the Prélude à “l’après-midi d’un faune” and Les Chansons de Bilitis, the latter consisting of musical interludes inserted into a sequence of prose poems by Louÿs. As published in FoMRHI Quarterly [Journal of the Fellowship of Makers and Researchers of Historic Instruments]. Publisher: Jeremy Montagu, Oxford. Little, Jonathan D. (2000), Musical Instruments Evocative of the Ancient Orient. FoMRHI Quarterly [Journal of the Fellowship of Makers and Researchers of Historic Instruments] (99), pp. 21-30 (comm.1707). KEYWORDS: lyres, flutes, double flute, tambourines, castanets, cymbals, antique cymbals, crotals, crotali, crotales, clapper, Carthage, Gustave Flaubert, Salammbô, Hector Berlioz, Les Troyens, Pierre Louÿs, Aphrodite, Claude Debussy, Prélude à “l’après-midi d’un faune”, Les Chansons de Bilitis, Edgar Allan Poe, La Chute de la maison d’Usher, Théophile Gautier, Une nuit de Cléopâtre, Cleopatra, Saint-Saëns, castagnettes de fer, priestesses of Dagon, Samson and Delilah, Samson et Dalila, Gounod, Sapho, L’Enfance du Christ, Herodias, Richard Strauss, Josephslegende, Salome, Roméo et Juliette, castagnettes de bois - et de fer, tavolette, Respighi’s, Feste Romane, Pompeii, Herculaneum, tintinnabula, Isis, sistrum, sistra, tympanum, sambuke, dulcimer, trigon, Le Roman de la momie, Walter Pater, Marius the Epicurean, Æolian harp, Aeolian harp, Georges Kastner, Pierre Loti, Madame Chrysanthème, Verdi, Aïda, Grand traité de l’instrumentation et d’orchestration modernes, darabuka, tarabuka, dumbek, dumbelik, Bizet, L’Arlésienne, Lakmé, Ibert, darboukka, Suite symphonique, Felicien David, Le Désert, Jerusalem, Meyerbeer’s, Le Prophète, Halévy, Le Juif errant, Auber, Le Dieu et la Bayadère, E. W. Lane, Alméh, Almah, Hafiz, "Jonathan David Little" SEE ALSO: SEE ALSO: https://www.academia.edu/38444573/On\_Western\_Travellers\_who\_described\_and\_drew\_inspiration\_from\_Eastern\_instruments\_and\_music\_ca.\_1830s-1850s\_FoMRHI\_Quarterly\_98\_Jan.\_2000\_41-45\_comm.1690\_ AND: https://www.academia.edu/38444420/Oriental\_Colour\_and\_Atmosphere\_Why\_Exotic\_Colour\_became\_Prominent\_in\_19th-and\_early\_20th-Century\_Orchestration\_FoMRHI\_Quarterly\_102\_Jan.\_2001\_23-28\_comm.1745\_
The CALA 2019 Proceedings, 2019
Frescoes representing melodic percussion orchestras have recently appeared in the central sanctuary of the Angkor Wat temple. They prefigure two orchestras existing today in Cambodia: the pin peat and the kantoam ming. These two ensembles are respectively related to Theravada Buddhism ceremonies and funerary rituals in the Siem Reap area. They represent a revolution in the field of music because of their acoustic richness and their sound power, supplanting the old Angkorian string orchestras. This project analyzes in detail the composition of the fresco sets and establishes a link with the structure of Khmer melodic percussion orchestras. The analysis of some graphic details, related to other frescoes and bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat, also makes it possible to propose a dating. The study embodies one of an anthropological ethnomusicology, while also incorporating a discourse analysis, so to frame the uncovering of new historiographers of music and instrumentation, so to re describe musical discourses, more so to shed new light on melodic percussion of Angkorian music.