Daghumma
Daghumma even deġemma, Dagama, darhama, is one of a calabash made percussion instrument , which in Mauritania is played mostly by women with the rhythmic accompaniment of their presented in private songs.
Design
As daghumma two different types are referred to a beaten with hands gourd instrument. One variant consists of a long, hollowed out and empty calabash, which is covered on the outside with a net to which small rattles are tied. When shaken, the rattles hit the wall of the vessel and produce a crackling sound. In terms of instruments, this type is one of the vessel rattles , which include shapes in which - as in most cases - rattle balls are enclosed inside and strike against the vessel wall and against each other from the inside, as well as rattles on nets from the outside for that Worry about noise. One end of this calabash is open. The musician beats the daghumma rhythmically against her thighs, covering the sound opening with her hand, leaving it partially or completely open in order to achieve differently sounding rattling noises. This type with a sound hole is called a gahgāh .
There is also a daghumma consisting of an elongated, hollowed-out calabash with two open ends without an external rattle-body net. She is hit with the right hand on one sound opening while the left hand covers the other opening. The air suddenly compressed inside the vessel produces a dull thud. In terms of instruments, this type belongs to the explosive aerophones .
Another calabash, filled with small stones and then closed, which accompanies dances as a rattle in Mauritania, is called kosel.
Style of play
In the Mauritanian society, which is divided according to gender and hierarchically according to castes, individual musical styles have developed. The art music is handed down by the Arab-Berber-born Bidhan , who historically consisted of the warrior caste and Islamic scholars. In traditional music making, the men of the Bidhan sing and play the plucked long-necked lute tidinit , rhythmically accompanied at best by clapping hands, while the women play the angle harp ardin to their singing. As a rhythmic vocal accompaniment, the Bidhan women play the barrel drum t'bal and also daghumma (apart from clapping their hands) . The boys learn music theory and sounds from their fathers, the girls dance, drums, harp and music theory from their mothers. Professional musicians form the Iggāwen's own caste and, according to their social role, belong to the West African griot . A traditional Iggāwen ensemble consists of tidinit, ardin, t'bal and possibly daghumma , occasionally supplemented by a frame drum .
Despite the limited selection of rhythm instruments, measure and rhythm are an essential element of the songs. Women often hit the animal skin soundboard of their ardin with their hands . When dancing, the rhythm can also be drummed on a plastic canister if necessary. At the tidinit the neck rattle body (sometimes are at the upper end Harba ) attached, which provide for a background noise.
The lower stratum of the Haratin population , workers and descendants of black African slaves, maintain stylistically different music with other instruments. In addition to their melodic instruments - the long flute neffara , the one-stringed plucked calabash spit sounds Gambra (names related to the Moroccan Gimbri ) and the one-stringed painted gourd spit sounds rbab (similar ribab ) - they play the daghumma corresponding or similar rhythm instruments from gourds and covered with animal skin mortar ( senna like the Tuareg mortar drum tendé ).
distribution
Calabash rattles are probably the most common type of vessel rattle. In countries where pumpkins do not thrive, the calabash shape is imitated with other materials such as wood, clay or wicker to make rattles. Calabash rattles are widespread in Africa and differ considerably in shape, decoration and the type of rattle body. Some are used in rituals with magical meanings. Like the daghumma, surrounded by a network of rattles, the Ghanaian calabash rattle axatse , which served as a model for the shékere used in Central and South America .
literature
- Wolfgang Creyaufmüller: Nomad culture in the Western Sahara. The material culture of the Moors, their handicraft techniques and basic ornamental structures. Burgfried-Verlag, Hallein (Austria) 1983, p. 442
- Daghumma . In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 2, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 4
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Creyaufmüller, 1983, p. 442
- ↑ Chris Stapleton: Mauritania. In: John Shepherd, David Horn, Dave Laing (Eds.): Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. Volume 4: Africa and the Middle East. Continuum, London 2005, p. 155
- ^ Jürgen Elsner in: Paul Collaer, Jürgen Elsner: Music history in pictures. Volume 1: Ethnic Music. Delivery 8: North Africa . Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1983, p. 178
- ↑ Senna . In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Volume 4, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 38
- ^ Jürgen Elsner: North Africa. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in history and present , Volume 7, 1997, Col. 235
- ^ Vessel rattle . In: Sibyl Marcuse : Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary. A complete, authoritative encyclopedia of instruments throughout the world. Country Life Limited, London 1966, p. 562
- ↑ Rattle. africamuseum.be