Gambus

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Gambus Melayu, before 1936

Gambus , Malay , from qanbus ( Arabic القنبوس, DMG al-qanbūs ), denotes a group of plucked sounds that are played by Islamized ethnic groups in some areas of Malaysia and Indonesia to accompany religious songs. In a broader sense, the corresponding musical styles gambus and the ensembles orkes gambus , which accompany religious and entertainment dances, are also mentioned. The two different types of instruments used by Arab traders by the 15th century at the latest are the gambus melayu , whose shape goes back to the pear-shaped qanbus from Yemen , and the gambus hadramaut , whose rounded body , like the Arabic ʿūd, is derived from the ancient Persian stringed instrument barbaṭ . All instruments are fretless .

Origin and Distribution

In the Arabian and North African countries, several similarly shaped and partly named sounds are known: The gabbus ( gambusi ) from Zanzibar , the Comoros sounds gabusi and the sounds gabus in Saudi Arabia and gabbus in Oman . Curt Sachs first traced these narrow plucked instruments back to the forerunners of the fretless Turkish lute kopuz ( kobuz ). In his Reallexikon from 1913 he mentions an Arabic origin for the Malay gambus .

It follows from this that, according to popular belief, the word qanbus and lute instruments with Arab traders, many of whom came from the Southeast Yemeni region of Hadramaut , must have come to the Malay islands ( alam Melayu ) in Southeast Asia , where two different types of lute can be found and their variants spread along with Islam across the Malay Peninsula , and on to Sumatra , Borneo, and Sulawesi . All Arabic sounds are called gambus in the Malay language . According to Curt Sachs, the name may indirectly be traced back to the kopuz , but the Turkish instrument is a long-necked lute, so it should not be used as a model for the gambus instruments. Native ( asli ) primitive preforms from which these sounds could have developed are not known. Another design are the boat sounds that are widespread in the region. Like the hasapi played in Sumatra or the Filipino kutiyapi, they come from India according to their name.

Gambus Melayu, before 1871

The pear-shaped type, derived from the Yemeni qanbus , is called gambus melayu , to distinguish it from the round-bellied lute gambus Hadramaut or gambus Arab , whose shape is derived from the barbaṭ , a string instrument introduced in Persia in the 8th century . The Persian type of instrument could be much earlier after a hypothesis, possibly as early as the 9th century by Sufi have been brought -Missionaren and merchants from Persia to some coastal settlements in the Malay archipelago. In the 1st century, Indian immigrants founded the small kingdom of Kalah, after which today's Malay state of Kedah is named. Since then, Arab and Persian sailing ships have moored in a local or another trading place on the west coast of Malaysia , known by the Arabs as Kalah . Arabic coins from the 9th century were found that document the trade with Chinese sailors. A correspondingly early arrival of lute instruments from the West would therefore be conceivable, the question of a Persian or Arabic origin can only be clarified on the basis of the shape.

It cannot be ruled out that, in addition to the medieval lute with a round body, a smaller lute also came from Persia at an earlier time, as there was a narrow lute , also called barbaṭ , made there as early as the Sassanid period , which lasted until the middle of the 7th century Piece of wood was known. This description also fits today's Yemeni qanbus , as does the tuning of the strings in fourths , which is characteristic of most Arabic and Persian sounds. In the 13th century, the first Muslim communities formed in Aceh in northern Sumatra, and from the beginning of the 15th century the Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms of the islands were threatened by a rapidly expanding Islam. With the Bugis and Makassar in Sulawesi Selatan , the frame drum Rebana and the Gambus Melayu were introduced with Islam at the beginning of the 17th century .

The later rounded shape of the barbat also became the model for the European lute . A name reference to the medieval viols sounds plausible, but is not certain.

In the 19th century, Yemeni Hadramaut traders played a significant role in the spread of Islam in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Many of them were scholars of Islam, and since the men came from the region of the Prophet , they and the rich Arab culture, including music, that they had spread were highly regarded by the population. Music formed part of this established and connecting cultural identity ( Asabiyya ). Just as the Arabic ʿūd almost completely displaced the pear-shaped indigenous sounds on the Arabian Peninsula at the beginning of the 20th century , in a quasi second musical import at the same time in alam Melayu, the more popular ʿūd was responsible for making the rounded shape of the gambus Hadramaut the narrower one gambus Melayu was largely able to displace it.

Designs

Gambus Melayu

Other regional names for the gambus Melayu (general, in Borneo and Sulawesi ) are gambus seludang (in Sabah and Brunei ), perahu, Hijaz (in Johor ), biawak and gambus Palembang , in Sulawesi also gambusu . The narrow instrument has a pear-shaped body ( badan ) that merges with a flat curvature into a medium-long, slim neck. This ends in a C-shaped pegbox ( kepala, "head") bent downwards . The hollow body is covered on the top ( muka , "face") instead of the ceiling with an untanned animal skin, which is sometimes decorated with Arabic characters . Goat skin is mainly used, rarely lizard or snake skin. A thin strip of hardwood is glued over the top of the neck, which is also hollowed out, which serves as a fingerboard.

Gambus Melayu, before 1936.
All photos from the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam

Proportions and size vary depending on the region, all gambus Melayu are cut from a piece of log. Most are made from Cempedak (Artocarpus integer) , Cengal ( Neobalanocarpus heimii, family of the Dipterocarpaceae ) or Nangka ( Artocarpus heterophyllus ). The woods mentioned are soft and therefore easy to work with and hardly shrink when drying. In the middle of the curved underside of the body there is a sound hole ( lubang bunyi ) for Malaysian lutes . Indonesian gambus have three to five small holes on the underside of the neck.

The pegboxes on Indonesian instruments are often decorated with carved birds, animal heads or flowers and have a slightly longer neck than those on the Malay Peninsula. The seven strings - three double and one single uppermost string - run from the vertebrae ( telinga ) over a flat bridge ( gertak ) that sits on the skin and end on a wooden spike ( buntut, "tail") inserted in the underside . Three and four wooden vertebrae lie horizontally opposite one another.

The total length of a typical gambus made in Johor is about 88 centimeters, the width of the sound box about 23 centimeters, the bottom has a maximum depth of 13 centimeters. The skin-covered lower part of the body is about 32 centimeters long up to the wooden ceiling of the neck.

Gambus Melayu with wooden ceiling

The gambusu from Sulawesi is a specialty . The instrument corresponds to the slim shape of the gambus Melayu, but has no skin covering, but a glued-on wooden ceiling. The neck (closer) is a little wider and the pegbox less carefully decorated. Other different museum forms are known from Java . In most regions nylon strings are used today, only in the Sumatra province of Riau and on some offshore islands wire strings are preferred. The tuning is in fourths , with most gambus melayu in A - D - G - C, only the wire strings in the Riau province are tuned to G - D - G - C.

The gambus Melayu or gambus seludang played in Brunei and Sabah also has a wooden top and only three double strings that are tuned E - A - D. It could be a further development of the skin-covered gambus Melayu . In this region there are sounds of different sizes under local names such as saludang mayang or saludang buntal . The full-size instrument is 100 centimeters long and 32 centimeters wide. The smallest lute, gambus Melayu kecil , measures 62 centimeters in length.

Gambus Hadramaut

This type of instrument, corresponding to the ʿūd , is mainly found in Johor , on the north coast of Borneo, especially in Brunei (as gambus Johor ), on Sumatra, Java and the Sulu archipelago . The body is 38 centimeters wide and 22 centimeters arched downwards, the total length is about 72 centimeters. The round-bellied shape consists of 15 to 21 thin strips of wood, which are glued together at the long edges and stiffened by transverse ribs. The stripes consist of seraya merah (genus Shorea ), merwan (genus Hopea , similar to Meranti) and durian belanda (Malay, Indonesian: sirsak, German: sour sack ). The ceiling made of a flat wooden board is glued onto the body. It has a large central sound hole about twelve centimeters in diameter and two smaller ones with five centimeters on the side of the strings. Leban ( Vitex cofassus, genus Vitex ) is usually used for the fingerboard on the neck ( nearer ) .

The peg box, about 23 centimeters long, is bent backwards at an obtuse angle from the neck. It is made from the light brown solid wood of leban or Seraya (Shorea curtisii, Dark Red Meranti ). Gambus Hadramaut have eleven nylon strings, five of which are double, the lowest string is single. The nylon that comes from fishing lines is now mostly replaced by guitar strings. The tuning in fourths is B - E - a - d - g - c. The melody is played with a pick on the upper strings and complemented by a drone below .

Musical tradition

The gambus is understood as part of the common Islamic-Malay culture of Southeast Asia. The musical styles understood as “Arabic” are summarized under the term irama padang pasir (“rhythm of the sand plain / desert”). A connecting element of the various Islamized ethnic groups is the reference to the origin of their culture in the Arab world. The generic term for an Islamic style of music is orkes gambus ("Gambus orchestra"). Musical performances in alam Melayu, if done in the right way, are viewed as a religiously honorable act, regardless of a controversial religious tradition in the hadith . The gambus has a long tradition as an accompanying instrument for Islamic worship songs. In Malaysia, an improvised gambus solo play ( Taksim ) on radio and television bridges the time until a prayer broadcast begins. The gambus is one of the stringed instruments to which a certain “holiness” is attributed.

The local musical traditions is one of the most in the Malaysian state of Johor maintained and from there into the sumatranesische province of Jambi and after Singapore spread Zapin -Tanz, appears to have been introduced around the 15th century by Arab Muslims from the Hadramaut. In the group dance originally only performed by men, women are now allowed to participate. The form zapin Arab is an energetic dance with violent leg movements, zapin Melayu is more reserved. Sometimes scenes from everyday life are shown. Both dance styles can be performed on secular or religious occasions. Zapin dance events used to take place in ruling houses as well as in villages. You will be accompanied by a music ensemble that includes gambus (or ʿūd ) and two pairs of small double- headed drums ( marwas, rebana) . One form of Zapin in the province of Lampung is the Islamic dance style called tari bedana , which is accompanied by several gambus and drums.

The musical Ghazal , cultivated at weddings and other festivals in the south of the Malaysian peninsula, has its origin in the Arab-Persian genre of the same name. The Ghazal came to Malaysia in the 19th century as an Indian song form with Indian traders or at the beginning of the 20th century together with the cultural import of the wayang Parsi ( Parsen theater). The old Malay pantun verses were sung to the melodies in a popular way, accompanied by a harmonium and tablas imported from India , as well as gambus and violin . An entertaining mix of styles formed with a love song that is mostly shallow today.

Traditional pantuns can be found in folk songs, lullabies and songs of praise to the prophet. In Brunei, too, they are accompanied by a gambus , whereby the singer can improvise his own stanzas using the pantun meter. Zapin dances with pantun verses sung to them are called zapin Brunei.

Kasidah (from Arabic qaṣīda ) is a secular and religious genre of song that has spread beyond the centers of Western Sumatra and Sulawesi. The religious songs are sung in Arabic, also by girls in religious schools, and accompanied with the gambus and drums.

In the Minangkabau in Western Sumatra, religious dances are performed, which are accompanied by a gambus or in the dance called salawek dulang with a bronze plate ( dulang ). According to local tradition, Muslim missionaries brought both instruments with them at the end of the 16th century. In the coastal lowlands the Minangkabau play the popular popular music of the ork Melayu , which originated in the early 20th century, with gambus , accordion, violins ( biola ), flutes ( saluang ) and double bass.

In general, flutes (common suling ), violins, frame drums ( rebana ) or, more recently, an electronic keyboard can play a role in gambus ensembles ( orkes gambus ) . Popular local and Arabic hits are played and distributed via music cassettes. The gambus players are almost always male, women accompany their singing on the frame drum.

Accordingly, after 1945 the music of Lombok developed among the Muslim population, the cilokaq, a regional style of light music in which two gambus form the harmonic background for the singing voice, a melody-leading suling and the double reed instrument preret .

literature

  • Terry E. Miller, Sean Williams (Eds.): The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music . Volume 4. Southeast Asia. Garland, New York / London 1998
  • Patricia Ann Matusky, Tan Sooi Beng (Eds.): The Music of Malaysia: The Classical, Folk, and Syncretic Traditions. (SOAS musicology series) Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot 2004.
  • Ulrich Wegner: African string instruments. Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin 1984 (= publications by the Museum für Völkerkunde Berlin , Neue Series 41, Department of Ethnic Music, V), ISBN 3-88609-117-1 , p. 147 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Curt Sachs: The musical instruments of India and Indonesia. At the same time an introduction to instrument science. Georg Reimer, Berlin 1915, p. 138
  2. ^ Curt Sachs: Real Lexicon of Musical Instruments. Julius Bard, Berlin 1913, p. 152
  3. Hilarian 2004, p. 4
  4. ^ Anita Rolf: Malaysia and Singapore. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne, 2nd edition 1989, p. 300
  5. ^ Ella Zonis: Classical Persian Music. An Introduction . Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA) 1973, p. 179; quoted in: Hilarian 2004, p. 4
  6. Margaret J. Kartomi: Sulawesi. In Garland, p. 806
  7. Hilarian 2004, p. 12
  8. ^ Constructions of the Gambus Hijaz. ( Memento from August 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  9. Hilarian 2006, pp. 54-57
  10. Shaharuddin A. Rahman, S. 11
  11. ^ HG Richter, MJ Dallwitz: Vitex spp. ().
  12. ^ HG Richter, MJ Dallwitz: Shorea spp., Subg. Rubroshorea (Dark Red Meranti).
  13. ^ Charles Capwell: Contemporary Manifestations of Yemeni-Derived Song and Dance in Indonesia . In: Yearbook for Traditional Music , Volume 27, 1995, pp. 76-89, here p. 85
  14. Birgit Berg: Presence and Power of the Islamic Idiom in Indonesian Islamic Musical Arts. (PDF; 461 kB) Conference on Music in the World of Islam. Assilah, August 8-13 August 2007, p. 7
  15. Hilarian 2006, p. 59
  16. Matusky, Beng, p. 127f
  17. Zapin. Dancemalaysia.com
  18. Margaret J. Kartomi: Sumatra. In: Garland, p. 601
  19. ZapiNusantara2 - Tari Bedana Sempah by Kump. Surabaya, Indonesia. Youtube video
  20. Matusky, Beng, pp. 351f
  21. Shaharuddin A. Rahman, S. 3f
  22. Margaret J. Kartomi: Sulawesi. In: Garland, p. 806
  23. Margaret J. Kartomi, Artur Simon , Rüdiger Schumacher: Indonesia. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Sachteil 4, 1996, col. 836