Ludaya

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Ludaya , also lusweje, lutaya, is one of the few flutes found in Africa and is played by the Bagisu in eastern Uganda for entertainment. The flute made from a plant stem has no finger holes. The player creates some tones of the natural tone series by overblowing and two basic tones by closing or opening the far end of the play tube with the index finger.

distribution

In East Africa , only a few exceptions are known of side-blown flutes in isolated areas, where longitudinal flutes are more common in the vicinity . At least some of the African flutes seem to have been developed as imitations of flutes imported from outside the continent only from the end of the 19th century. Side-blown animal horns like the amak special have a longer tradition in Uganda and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. The Bagwere in eastern Uganda played animal horns blown from the side and natural trumpets made from calabashes (comparable to the waza on the Sudanese-Ethiopian border) in the same orchestra. In 1950 Hugh Tracey recorded an ensemble with eight side-blown calabash horns ( magwala ) together with drums with the Basoga in southern Uganda . With some trumpets, the blow position cannot be clearly defined as straight or sideways. The use of transverse or longitudinal flutes is accordingly not based on any functional distinction.

In Uganda, trumpets, flutes and kettle drums sound together in an orchestra, whereby the interplay of trumpets and kettle drums in predominantly Christian Uganda is viewed as a takeover of the ceremonial court orchestra that has penetrated south from North Africa to the Sahel region with the spread of Islam heard the long trumpet kakaki among the Hausa . In Chad occur, for example, in addition to ensembles with long, the waza on similar gourd trumpets ceremonial polyphonic ensembles from end-blown cattle horns and flutes: in Toupouri the notched flute mandan with four finger holes of a millet stalks and three different lengths gourd trumpets ( oumkara with Mirliton long matigéon and medium Mangari ). There is a general similarity between the insignia of the Kabaka of Buganda and those of the Muslim rulers. In Buganda, the orchestras that performed independently within the Kabaka Palace ( lubiri ) included the flute ensemble ( abalere ba Kabaka ) with six flutes ( endere ) of different sizes and four drums, the xylophone ensemble ( entamiivu ba Kabaka ) with several spar xylophones and the solo-played bow harp ennanga .

A special flute that has played in the trumpet orchestra of several Ugandan royal families is the nshegu ( nseegu ). The word means "flute" or "horn pipe". It looks like a reed flute, but consists of two wooden half-shells placed on top of each other and sounds like a reed instrument . Other endgeblasene flutes in Uganda, in addition to the Reed Flute gentler ( ther ) the emubanda , the recorder olweto the Acholi (once made of wood, today also metal or plastic), the conical wooden flute iseengo ( isengo ) and spread widely in the country omukuli . The Iteso in Uganda and neighboring Kenya play the 30 centimeter long auleru ( awuleru ) with four finger holes in which they blow over a V-shaped notch on the upper edge.

The Kuria on the east bank of Lake Victoria play variants of the ibirongwe flute made of reed or bamboo , which was described by John Varnum in 1970 (there in more detail on the spread of African flutes). The bamboo flute mlanzi ( mulanzi ) of the Gogo in central Tanzania possibly reached the interior of the country in the 19th century with trade caravans from the Arabic-influenced Swahili culture on the East African coast. For the chivoti , which is played by the Digo and related ethnic groups on the southern Kenyan coast, Roger Blench believes that an origin from India is possible because it has similarities with the Indian bamboo flute bansuri ( bansi ). According to Hugh Tracey, the 38 centimeter long quibocolo with six finger holes in the Congo , of which he made sound recordings in 1934 , was also imported . Furthermore, Percival Robson Kirby , who investigated musical instruments in southern Africa in the 1930s, assumed a European origin for the flutes there. Peter Cooke thinks it is possible that the ludaya is a simplified imitation of a European piccolo that could have come to Uganda with Catholic missionaries from the 1880s.

Design

Lobelia coverii . The stem of the inflorescence is the starting material for the flute.

The Bagisu ludaya is Uganda's only flute. It is from the dried flowers stem of a Lobelienart ( Lobelia deckenii , local language litaya manufactured), which occurs in the higher mountain forests of East Africa. In addition to the Bagisu, other ethnic groups also use the straight stems that grow up to 1.5 meters high and are ideal for making flutes. In Rwanda , shepherds make the lengthwise flute umwirongi, if available, from the stem of another lobelia species ( Lobelia gibberoa HEMS, local name intomvu ). When the inflorescence is freed from its rosette-shaped flowers, a straight, thin-walled and slightly conical tube remains. To measure the correct length, the musician holds the stem in the intended playing position. It is cut off at the point that the player can just reach with the index finger of his outstretched right hand. At the near end with the larger diameter, a rectangular blow hole is cut out 4-5 centimeters from the edge, measuring 1.8 centimeters lengthways and 1.3 centimeters across on an examined instrument. This flute was 88.4 centimeters long with an inner diameter of 1.9 centimeters at the near end and 1.2 centimeters at the far end. The wall thickness decreased from just under two millimeters at the thicker end to one millimeter at the weaker end. The flute is ready to play with the incised blowing hole. There are no finger holes and the two ends remain open. The disadvantage is that the tube has a low mechanical stability and is easily attacked by animal pests.

Style of play

The player holds the flute horizontally with both hands. With the index finger of his left hand he grips the tube at the edge next to the blow hole, while he closes the end of the tube with his left thumb. He holds the far end from below with his outstretched right hand so that he can close and open the far end of the pipe while playing with his right index finger. This results in two basic tones and, by overblowing, a series of harmonic overtones .

On the flute examined, the measurement of the pitch with the lower end open resulted in approximately: g (not used) - g ♯ 1  - d ♯ 2  - g ♯ 2  - h ♯ 2  - d ♯ 3 or d 3 . Blowing the flute closed at the far end resulted in: G (not used) - d ♯ 1  - h ♯ 1  - c ♯ 2  - a ♯ 2  - c ♯ 3  - e 3 . For other shorter flutes, the measurements showed similar pitch intervals, with the top notes being difficult to produce. The combination of both tone series results in more than five tones per octave. This distinguishes the music of the ludaya from the pentatonic xylophone orchestras at the Buganda ruling court and from the music of the Nilotic peoples in Uganda.

The ludaya is usually only played by men and for entertainment. An exception for a ceremonial use was circumcision , in which a flute is used together with several drums and bells in the north of the Bagisu settlement area. The flute melody is representative of a sung text with which the test person is encouraged to behave bravely. In the place of the ludayas presumably used for this purpose in the past, penny whistles have now appeared .

The ludaya was often heard at festivals where grain beer ( pombe ) is drunk. The one or two-stringed tubular violin siilili of the Bagisu (corresponding to the endingidi of the Baganda ) and the seven-stringed lyre litungu ( liduku ) have a comparable function . The players of all melody instruments tie bells ( bitsetse, bizeze ) around their calves, with which they ensure a constant beat. In addition, there is another musician who contributes a rhythm between the basic beats with a vessel rattle ( isaasi ). Furthermore, shepherd boys used to play the ludaya , just as flutes are widely used as shepherds' instruments.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roger Blench, p. 13
  2. ↑ Paul Van Thiel: Amakondere and Ezamba. Royal Museum for Central Africa
  3. ^ Secular Music from Uganda 1950 & 1952. Soga, Teso, Dhola, Gisu, Konjo, Nyoro, Toro. Recordings by Hugh Tracey, SWP Records / International Library of African Music, 2003, track 4
  4. ^ Roger Blench: Reconstructing African music history: methods and results. 2004, p. 7f
  5. ↑ Tchad: Baїnaoua, banana, banana Hoho, Kado, Moundang-Touro, Toupouri, Toupouri-Kera. CD Prophet 01, 1999, track 1, recorded in 1966
  6. ^ Peter Cooke: East Africa: An Introduction. In: Ruth M. Stone: (Ed.): Garland Encyclopedia of World Music . Volume 1: Africa. Routledge, New York 1997, p. 601
  7. ^ Klaus Peter Wachsmann: Musicology in Uganda . In: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland , Vol. 83, No. 1, January - June 1953, pp. 50-57, here pp. 53f
  8. ↑ George W. Senoga-Zake: Folk Music of Kenya. Uzima Publishing House, Nairobi 1986, pp. 161f
  9. ^ Gerhard Kubik : Music history in pictures: East Africa. (Volume 1: Musikethnologie. Delivery 10) Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1982, pp. 134, 138
  10. ↑ Laura E. Gilliam, William Lichtenwanger (Ed.): The Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection. A Checklist of the Instruments . Library of Congress, Washington 1961, p. 87 ( online at Internet Archive )
  11. ^ Percival Robson Kirby: The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa . Oxford University Press, London 1934
  12. ^ Peter R. Cooke, 1971, p. 89
  13. ↑ Umwirongi (sing.) - Imyirongi (pl.). Royal Museum for Central Africa
  14. ↑ Jos goose Emans, Barbara Schmidt-Wrenger: Music History in Pictures: Central Africa. (Volume 1: Musikethnologie. Delivery 9) Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1986, p. 152
  15. ↑ Peter R. Cooke, 1971, pp. 80-82
  16. ↑ Peter R. Cooke, 1971, pp. 82f