Pepa

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Pepa player performing a bihu dance

Pepa ( Assamese পেঁপা ), also pempa ( pēpā, pepā, pempā ), is a single reed instrument consisting of a buffalo horn with an attached bamboo tube , which is used in the northeast Indian state of Assam for dancing and singing. A variant of this type of horn pipe is a double wind instrument with two parallel chimes that lead into a common horn as a bell .

Origin and Distribution

Horn pipes have been wind instruments played by shepherds since ancient times, the chime of which consists of a plant pipe, an elder branch or a bone and the sound of which is amplified by an animal horn. The reed is usually idioglott (cut out of the instrument). In Mesopotamia , the Sumerian ideogram PITU probably meant a compound horn pipe, as did keraulos in ancient Greece (from keras, Greek “horn” and aulos , a double wind instrument). After several representations from pre-Christian times from Western Europe to the Baltic States , the references disappeared in the early Middle Ages and European horn pipes did not reappear until the 10th century. Horn pipes with one or two pipes were widely used as pastoral instruments in Western Europe ( albogue in Spain), the Maghreb ( al-buq in the Arab Middle Ages), the Urals and India. In China there used to be horn pipes, presumably from Central Asia, with three finger holes and the bell and mouthpiece made of animal horn.

With some double horn pipes, the two play tubes are blown by a built-in wind chamber. In India this corresponds to the design of the double clarinet pungi and is considered a preliminary stage to the development of the bagpipe (in northern India mashak ). Closely related to the pepo is the tarpu , which only occurs regionally in western India and consists of two bamboo tubes with single- reed leaves, a slim calabash through which the musician blows, and another calabash as a bell at the other end. (For details on the distribution of double-wind instruments in India, see here .) Despite the considerable number of single-reed instruments played in Indian music , apparently none are suitable for classical music .

Animal horns as trumpet instruments have a long tradition in India. At the Shiva temple of Bhumara from the 5th century, stone reliefs on the walls show musicians and dancers, including figures playing a snail horn (Sanskrit shankha ), a curved animal horn and a short transverse flute ( vamsha ) without finger holes. In the epic Mahabharata a cow horn ( govisānika ) is mentioned in some places , which sounded as a loud signaling instrument in battles. From the animal horn war trumpet S-shaped or semi-circular curved metal trumpets kombu ( shringa ) and straight trumpets like the karna developed .

Today in India, the use of buffalo horns as a musical instrument is largely restricted to the northeast . The Thado, a subgroup of the Kuki ( Mizo-Kuki-Chin speakers ), beat the horn of a gaur ("Indian bison ") or another type of cattle , which has been cleaned inside, with a wooden stick for rhythmic accompaniment. A natural trumpet consisting of a bamboo tube with a buffalo horn attached to the end is called Garo adil . This can be used to produce short signal tones with an approximate pitch. The Naga use a buffalo horn blown crosswise with a vent opening on the side of the tip. Other buffalo horns are blown at the end, for example a horn called wong in the Buddhist monastery of Tawang , which monks use to call to the meetings.

The closest related to the horn pipes of the pepa type are single-reed instruments of the Karbi in Assam, which consist of a bamboo pipe with an inserted blowpipe with an idioglottic reed and an attached wooden bell. One instrument with five finger holes is called muri tongpo , another with six finger holes is called muri-so. The kali, which is widespread regionally in Assam, is a similar single-reed instrument with a total length of 60 centimeters and a bamboo tube with six to seven finger holes. A brass or bronze bell is attached.

Other wind instruments widespread regionally in the northeast are pumpkin mouth organs of the ejuk tapung type in Assam and the rasem in Tripura . They refer culturally to South China and Southeast Asia.

Design

The essential component of a pepa is a slightly curved buffalo horn, ( Hindi sing, "horn"), which is called thola in Assam . Before processing, it is first placed in warm water for a while or stored covered with cow dung. When this has softened the horn, it is cut to size with a knife and the inside is scraped clean with a piece of glass. A brass ring is pulled over the open end to protect it from being torn off and as an ornament. A thin, 15 centimeter long bamboo tube ( nalicha or garvahala ) with four finger holes is inserted into the opening at the pointed end . A four centimeter long tube ( thuri ) made of bamboo or another material with an incised reed ( pati ) is used as the mouthpiece . A piece of bamboo ( cupahi ) placed over it serves as a comfortable attachment for the lips. The instrument can be dismantled into the three named parts.

With some pepa , two identical playing tubes are connected to one another and put into a buffalo horn as a common bell to achieve a louder sound. These juriya-pepa (“double whistle”) are blown through a larger bamboo tube ( cupa or mukhani ) attached. Such a use of a double wind instrument is unusual, because a second music tube is usually required in India not because of the greater volume, but to produce a drone .

The terms pempa and pepa apply to wind instruments made from buffalo horn in Assam. Pempa as an instrument of the mishing who live in some districts of Assam can be distinguished from the mahar singar pepa in other districts. A pempa is described as a double wind instrument with two different bamboo tubes, one tube having four finger holes and the other three. Instead of an animal horn, attached bell made of metal are used on some wind instruments. Some ethnic groups prefer the strongly curved horns of the Gaur. The buffalo horn wind instrument is called pepti by the Rangkhal, ke-buike by the Jemi- Naga and pekhaokhai ( pi-khao-khai ) by the Buddhist Tai speakers . The Deori pepa in Assam has an almost straight horn and a tube with five to six finger holes. Reasons for the gradual disappearance of the pepa are the lack of suitable buffalo horns, the laborious manufacturing process and the game, which requires practice.

Style of play

Musician with two pepa at a Bihu dance event

The musician uses three fingers and covers the corresponding finger holes on instruments with two bamboo tubes with one finger each. In the ensemble, the pepa plays together with the double-headed, cylindrical or barrel-shaped wooden drum dhol , the bamboo rattle toka and the frame jaw harp gagana made of bamboo to accompany songs and dances.

The pepa is of great importance at the seasonal festivals of the Assamese- Hindu culture, into which Indian and southern Chinese traditions have been incorporated. The most widely observed Bihu festival cycle consists of three festivals. The spring festival Bohag Bihu (or Rongali Bihu ), which came from an old fertility cult into the Hindu tradition, is celebrated by all population groups in mid-April and is related to Songkran, which takes place at the same time in Thailand. The two other festivals are also part of the arable farming cycle: Kati Bihu marks the suspension of rice from mid-October to the beginning of November and Magh Bihu is a kind of harvest festival.

Young women and men lead during several days and nights lasting Bohag Bihu a special Bihu- round dance on the regional variations of the drum dhol , the Doppelkonunstrommel khol , the clash cymbals bartal ( bihutal ) or other clash cymbals (commonly tal ) and pepa and gagana is accompanied. A bihu dhol , pepa and tal (or toka ), used only for this purpose, form the core of the instruments for dance and singing accompaniment and play continuously. The songs ( bihunan ) sung at Bohag Bihu represent the most prominent element of Assamese folk songs in terms of music and content. The spring festival also offers young people an opportunity to search for a partner.

literature

  • Dilip Ranjan Barthakur: The Music and Musical Instruments of North Eastern India . Mittal Publications, New Delhi 2003
  • Dilip Ranjan Barthakur: Mahar Śingar Pepā. In: Late Pandit Nikhil Ghosh (Ed.): The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India. Saṅgīt Mahābhāratī. Vol. 2, Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2011, p. 620
  • Alastair Dick: Pempā. In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 4, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 50
  • Pempā. In: Late Pandit Nikhil Ghosh (Ed.): The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India. Saṅgīt Mahābhāratī. Vol. 3, Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2011, p. 807

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Francis W. Galpin: The Music of the Sumerians and their Immediate Successors, the Babylonians and Assyrians. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1937, p. 19
  2. ↑ Hornpipe. In: Sibyl Marcuse : Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary. A complete, authoritative encyclopedia of instruments throughout the world. Country Life Limited, London 1966, p. 247
  3. ^ Sibyl Marcuse: A Survey of Musical Instruments . Harper & Row Inc., New York 1975, p. 665
  4. ↑ Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: Musical Instruments . National Book Trust, New Delhi 1977, p. 65
  5. ↑ Walter Kaufmann : Old India. Music history in pictures , Vol. 2. Music of antiquity, delivery 8. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1981, p. 168
  6. ^ Roger Blench: Musical instruments of Northeast India. Classification, distribution, history and vernacular names. ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Cambridge, December 2011, pp. 1-45 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rogerblench.info
  7. ↑ Dilip Ranjan Barthakur, 2003, p. 119
  8. ↑ Dilip Ranjan Barthakur, 2003, p 115
  9. ↑ Alastair Dick, 2014, p. 50
  10. ↑ Dilip Ranjan Barthakur, 2003, p 128
  11. ↑ Dilip Ranjan Barthakur, 2003, p. 116
  12. ^ Yasmin Saikia: Religion, Nostalgia, and Memory: Making an Ancient and Recent Tai-Ahom Identity in Assam and Thailand. In: The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 65, No. 1, February 2006, pp. 33–60, here p. 47
  13. ^ Paramesh Dutta: Festivity, Food, and Bihu: a short introduction to the national festival of Assam. In: Indian Folklife , No. 31, November 2008, p. 16
  14. ↑ Dilip Ranjan Barthakur, 2003, pp. 11, 44
  15. ↑ Prerana Choudhury: The Fruitful and the Fulfilled: Looking at Adi Rasa and Shringar Rasa in the Folk Aesthetics of Bihu. In: Rupkatha Journal , Vol. 6, No. 2, 2014, pp. 60–70, here p. 68