Sumpotan
Sumpotan , also called sompoton, is a mouth organ made from a calabash with bamboo pipes . The traditional musical instrument has its home in northern Borneo .
The instrument was first used by the Kadazandusun , but was soon also used by the Murut .
description
WJ Worth of the North Borneo Chartered Company conducted an in-depth study of the musical instruments of North Borneo in 1923 and gave the first scientific description of a sumpotan among the Murut:
The sumpotan consists of eight bamboo pipes that are stuck vertically in an empty calabash that serves as a wind chamber. One of the pipes is a dummy ; the others produce the notes of a pentatonic scale by means of a penetrating tongue . In three of the pipes the sound is interrupted by closing the exit hole with the fingers of the right hand, three other pipes have small openings at the foot of the pipe which are closed with the fingers of the left hand and the last pipe creates a drone . Every now and then two or three pipes sound at the same time. Some of the sumpotan are cleverly constructed and decorated with painterly elements.
Traditionally, the individual pipes have their own names, namely lombohon , monongkol , suruk , baranat , randawi , tuntuduk and tinangga .
A similar mouth organ among the Dayak with six or eight pipes is called kledi .
Manufacturing
For the wind chamber, a ripe korobu (bottle gourd) is pitted and dried. The calabash is provided with a rectangular hole large enough to accommodate the entire bundle of pipes. Sumbiling , a thinly growing type of bamboo from Borneo, is used for the pipes . The bamboo grows in the hill regions of Sabah, as does a type of palm called polod , whose bark is used to make the tongues of the instrument. To do this, the bark of the polod is harvested and the skin peeled off. This is what the sodi (tongue) is made of. A fern called loputung or solingkawang can be found on cleared areas of the jungle . Its stalks are cut off and peeled. The fibers from the inside of the straw are used after drying to tie the pipes together in two layers. Finally, a type of bee that can usually be found in tree holes or bamboo canes supplies the beeswax that is used to secure the tongues and to seal the gap between the calabash and the pipes.
literature
Ong Chen Wei, Jedol Dayou: FREQUENCY CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUND FROM SOMPOTON MUSICAL INSTRUMENT (PDF; 408 kB); Borneo Science, Vol. 25, 2009
Web links
- Sompoton of Sabah. gadevd.blogspot.de (with music example, accessed on January 18, 2013)
- The making of the Sompoton sabah.edu.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b W. J. Worth, cited in Owen Rutter : The Pagans of North Borneo , Chapter 7, § 1, Hutchinson and Co, London, 1929
- ↑ Ong Chen Wei, Jedol Dayou; Borneo Science page 72
- ↑ sabah.edu.net: The making of the Sompoton ; Accessed January 20, 2013