Kolitong

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Kolitong , also kuletong, kulitong (Bontoc and Kalinga language), kolibit, kulibit, kulibet (Kalinga), is an idiochorde full-tube zither made of bamboo that is played by the Kalinga in the north of the Philippine island of Luzon . The Kalinga bamboo zither has six strings that are plucked with both hands. In the adjacent also to the Igorot belonging to indigenous peoples in the Philippine Cordilleras similar musical instruments with five to eleven strings are known.

Kolitong

Origin and Distribution

An example from Indonesia of the second group of tubular bamboo zithers that are struck with sticks. Tropical Museum Amsterdam, before 1936.

In bamboo tubular zithers, the resonance body consists of a section of bamboo ( internode ) that has been cut off behind the knot and forms a cylinder that is closed on both sides. Idiochorde strings are cut out of the upper layer of the bamboo tube, but remain connected to it at the ends and are lifted off by small pieces of wood pushed underneath. Heterochord bamboo tube zithers have strings made of a foreign material (plant fiber, metal wire) stretched over the tube. Bamboo tube zithers are divided into multi-string plucked instruments and single or two-string instruments struck with a stick. The first group usually has sound holes in the nodes on both sides, while the second group has a sound hole in the middle of the tube under a piece of wood attached to the string or between the two strings, which resonates as a sound amplifier.

The main distribution region of plucked or stumped bamboo tubular zithers is Southeast Asia, South China and Madagascar . They occur on many islands in the Philippines and are among the characteristic musical instruments of the Proto-Malay, the oldest, Stone Age immigrant class on the Malay Islands . All pre-Hispanic Filipino music is largely shaped by the Malay musical culture.

Due to the cultural influence of South China and Southeast Asia, tubular bamboo zithers have arrived in the far northeast of India, such as the two-stringed gintang in Assam and the chigring in the local state of Meghalaya . Today's valiha comes from the Malay Archipelago on the island of Madagascar off East Africa. On the Malay Peninsula , tubular bamboo zithers are only used by Orang Asli groups, but not by the Malay majority population. The tubular bamboo zithers played in Indonesia include the canang kacapi of the Gayo in Aceh (North Sumatra) and the kacapi bambu of the Minangkabau ( West Sumatra ), which have the same name as the Javanese box zither kacapi , the celempung bambu in West Java with the addition of “bamboo” the box zither celempung in western Java, the tanggetong with the Toba- Batak in northern Sumatra and the tongkunon in Borneo . The sasando on the Indonesian island of Roti is the only one with a bell that surrounds the bamboo tube with a half-shell. In gamelan formations on Bali, the single-stringed bamboo zither guntang , struck with a stick, is played (more detailed there for supraregional distribution).

A possible further development of tubular zithers are board zithers, which are rare on the Southeast Asian islands, but mainly occur together with trough zithers in Central and East Africa ( bangwe or inanga ). In mainland Southeast Asia and in East Asia, vaulted board zithers such as the guzheng in China and the koto in Japan are common. Zithern half tube, whose body is made of split bamboo longitudinal halves are in the Cordilleras in Ifugao tadcheng, tedcheng, gacheng or ayudding and the Ibaloi cold sang mentioned.

The occurrence of heterochordous board zithers among the Ifugao is unusual and little known. Four metal strings run over a rectangular wooden board between nails that have been driven in on the narrow sides. Some sound holes are drilled irregularly in the board, which is placed on a coconut shell or cup to amplify the sound when playing. Probably also derived from the original bamboo zithers are long rectangular boards with the Ifugao, over which two narrow metal strips are stretched, which are held at a distance at the ends by flat wooden bars. In terms of instruments, these "strip zithers" can hardly be assigned to stringed instruments, but perhaps to lamellophones and jew's harps.

Multi-string plucked bamboo tubular zithers occur in the south of the islands of Mindanao and Palawan in addition to Luzon . Names for this in the Cordilleras of Luzon are, in addition to the pronunciation variants of kolitong, Bontoc and Kalinga, among the Ilongot in the Caraballo Mountains, kollesing (five to six strings), kulesin, kulising and among the Isneg in the Proving Apayao killeteng, kulitteng, ohitang ( five strings) and uritang . Such bamboo tube zithers in the south of the Philippines are called pagang on Palawan, with the Manobo in the northeast of Mindanao salorai, saluray, saluroy and sawray , with the Agusan-Manobo tangkew , with the Subanon on the Zamboanga peninsula of Mindanao sigitan (five strings) the Bilaan and Tagabili in the province of South Cotabato and among the Tagakaolo in the province of Davao del Sur sloray, senday, sluray and s'ludoy , with the Matisalug in the province of Bukidnon saluray (six strings), with the Mansaka ( Lumad subgroup) takul , with the Tirurai in the Muslim province of Maguindanao tangke (eight strings), with the Mangguagan (Davao del Sur) and Dibabawon (Lumad, to Manobo) tangko, tangku and with the Manobo and Tirurai in Maguindanao Togo and with the Bagobo in Davao del sur tugo (seven strings).

The other group of bamboo tube zithers in the Philippines has two strings about five centimeters apart, which are cut out of a 40 centimeter long, thick bamboo tube. The strings of this group are struck with a stick, which is why they are called "drum zithers" in analogy to slit drums . The tube is closed at the internodes. In the middle there is a sound hole above which a piece of wood is wedged between the strings, which amplifies the sound when the strings are hit. In Luzon, these include among Isnag bambam and pasing , in the Kalinga tambi , in the province of Zambales tabenbbeng, in Hanunuo on the island of Mindoro kudlong, with the Manobo of Mindanao katimbok and tabobo , on Subanon tabobok and thambabok , in the province Bukidnon takumbo , with the Muslim Maranao (especially in the province of Lanao del Sur ) serongagandi and with the Batak on the island of Palawan patigunggung .

Design and style of play

Small wooden walkways on both sides
Ovary with a star-shaped incised sound hole

The kolitong is made from a thick-walled type of bamboo that is regionally called bvuyog and in Tagalog kawayan . An instrument is typically 80 centimeters long with a diameter of 11 centimeters. The bamboo tube is cut off just behind the knots, which are provided with sound holes cut into a star shape on both sides. The strings are loosened with tight parallel cuts and a tangential cut and lifted as bridges by small pieces of wood pushed under at the ends . So that they do not tear, the bamboo tube is wrapped with rattan fiber just inside the knot . The six strings are arranged in two groups of three strings each. The player holds the kolitong with the balls of his hands and little fingers at an angle upwards in front of his stomach. He plucks the strings with the thumb, index finger and middle finger of his left and right hand.

Besides the kolitong , the Kalinga use the bvuyog bamboo variety to make the two-string tubular zither tambi and the jaw harp kulibaw . The latter is known as genggong in some regions of Indonesia . Tongatong , the fork-shaped bamboo clapper ballingbing , the pattanggok bamboo clapper slotted on one side like a quill pen and pattatag sound bars , which are loosely placed next to each other and used as a xylophone , are made from thin-walled bamboo ( bvulo ) .

The way the kolitong and other bamboo instruments are played is based on the ensemble with six flat gongs ( gangsa ), which are widespread throughout the entire Cordillera, and each one is played by a musician. The gangsa ensemble is an essential part of the rituals of passage and other ceremonial family celebrations. In one style of play ( pattang ), the dancers hit a flat gong with a wooden mallet while they dance. In tuppayya , the musicians sit on the floor and strike the gong with one hand in the same sequence of four beats: a stressed beat followed by a short beat and two beats. The gongs are graduated according to the pitch and are called from low to high: (1) balbal, (2) kadwa, (3) katlo, (4) kapat , (5) opop (or kalima ) and (6) lalat (or kanom ). The gangsa said to have a magical significance, previously they could only beat grown men on ceremonial occasions and their game was part of the preparation of head-hunting expeditions.

The parallels to the bamboo instruments are linked to this. Each ensemble consists of six bamboo instruments of different pitches; with each, the musician produces a pronounced beat, which is followed by a barely audible intermediate beat and he plays the same ascending tone sequence as with the gangsa . The kolitong does not belong to the instruments of the bamboo ensemble, but together with the jew's harp kulibaw to the plucked solo instruments. Wind instruments played solo and with which folk songs are intoned are the hand-blown bamboo flute paldong and the nasal flute tongali . There is also the three-string fiddle gologod, the body of which consists of a bamboo tube in the longitudinal direction and which is painted with a bow made of Abacá fibers (Manila hemp). In contrast to the ensemble instruments, all solo instruments are used for pure entertainment.

Audio sample of the six strings

Kolitong and kulibaw imitate the cyclical tone sequence of the gangsa . For this, the six strings of the kolitong are tuned exactly to the pitch of the gongs.

The solo instruments can be learned and played by any male member of the community without limitation, but it is customary to practice in a secluded area first. The men's house, where boys traditionally spend the night together, offers an ideal opportunity to practice. Practice consists of listening carefully and imitating. Usually the solo instruments are played on the verandah of a private house during the rest period during the afternoon heat and after work is done in the evening when the men from the neighborhood come together and talk. The jew's harp is the most popular solo instrument, the bamboo zither is more difficult to learn than the flute, which is why the number of players is relatively small.

literature

Web links

Commons : Kolitong  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The given name tatabuang is known from multi-string, plucked bamboo tubular zithers on the East Indonesian islands: tattabua on Halmahera and tatabuan kavan on Buru . The illustration with two related and one separate string corresponds to the Javanese gumbeng that is struck, cf. guntang .
  2. ^ Artur Simon : Southeast Asia: Musical Syncretism and Cultural Identity. In: Fontes Artis Musicae, Vol. 57, No. 1, January – March 2010, pp. 23–34, here p. 25
  3. ↑ José Maceda: Means of Preservation and Diffusion of Traditional Music: The Philippine Situation. In: Asian Music, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1971, pp. 14-17, here p. 14
  4. ^ Roger Blench: Musical instruments and musical practice as markers of the Austronesian expansion post-Taiwan. 2007, pp. 1–13, here p. 8
  5. ^ Kurt Reinhard : Chinese Music . Erich Röth, Kassel 1956, p. 138
  6. Jump up ↑ Fredeliza Campos, Roger Blench: Heterochord Board and Strip Zithers in the Cordillera, Northern Philippines. In: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 67, January 2014, pp. 171-180
  7. ^ Paul Collaer: Southeast Asia. Music history in pictures. Volume I: Ethnic Music. Delivery 3. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1979, p. 162; Serongagandi. Music Instruments of the Philippines (illustration)
  8. ↑ Corazon Dioquino, 2008, p. 109f
  9. ↑ Kolitong. In: Laurence Libin (Ed.), Vol. 4, 2014, p. 194
  10. ↑ Ballingbing. Musical Bamboo Instruments
  11. ^ Aaron Prior, 2011, p. 59
  12. ^ Aaron Prior, 2011, pp. 65f
  13. ^ Paul Collaer: Southeast Asia. Music history in pictures . Volume I: Ethnic Music . Delivery 3. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1979, p. 162
  14. ↑ Aaron Prior, 2011, p. 98
  15. ^ Aaron Prior, 2011, p. 115