Morsing
Morsing also Morchang is a Indian bracket Maultrommel of metal. Jew's harps are mainly classified as plucked idiophones . The morsing is used in South Indian classical music as a rhythm instrument. Their sound is metallic-rasping and complements a dull drum sound well. She often follows the rhythm patterns of the mridangam like a shadow , but she also performs solo roles in percussion ensembles. In addition to the mridangam , the ghatam and the kanjira , it is often played as the fourth rhythm instrument in carnatic music. The morsing is often used in a kind of syllable language, the konnakol .
The instrument has a compact frame made of steel or brass with an attached, free-floating steel tongue that protrudes far. The frame is held with the palm of the left hand and placed against the slightly open rows of teeth. With the middle finger of the right hand, the player plucks the steel spring, the vibrations of which are amplified by the oral cavity and the skull bones. By changing the oral cavity, individual overtones can be emphasized and thus different sounds can be produced. In South India the morsing belongs to the talavadya kacceri (“percussion group”) of a classical orchestra.
In northern India, especially in Rajasthan , there are deeper sounding jew's harps called morchang . Other spellings are morsang or murcang , in the west also simply cang . Variants of the word chang or cheng are widely used as names for musical instruments in Asia. In Afghan music the jew's harp is played, and in related Tajik music, the chang kobus is played. In Nepal, the jaw harp is called machinga or changu . Persian chang and Turkish çeng are old names for Asian angle harps that have now disappeared. Tschang-kobus are called Jew's Harps in Central Asia.
In addition, idioglotte (made of the same material) frame jaws made of bamboo are also known in the north: as gagana and under other names in Assam and as ghangli among the Bhil people . The gagana has a hanging cord at the end of the tongue that is plucked. Likewise, the ghoraliyan works in Rajasthan .
literature
- Alastair Dick: Murcang. In: Grove Music Online, May 28, 2015
Web links
- The Morsing. mridangam.com
Individual evidence
- ^ Norbert Beyer: India. VIII. Musical instruments. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in history and present , Sachteil 4, 1996, Sp. 745