Tom (lyre)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tom , also called thom , is a five-string bowl lyre among the Shilluk in South Sudan . A singer accompanies epic songs with the lyre, which often tell of the heroic deeds of the mythical first king.

Origin and Distribution

Lyries are widespread in Eastern Africa, but not found anywhere else in Africa. They are from the simsimiyya in Egypt up the Nile over Nubia , where the cup veil, Nubian kisir , Arabic tanbūra , is the most popular traditional musical instrument, in Ethiopia with the lyres krar and beganna to the southern border of the distribution area in the Buhaya region in Tanzania, in Played parts of Uganda and the northwest region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . Between the 1st and 4th centuries, lyres came from Nubia to the Aksumite Empire in today's Ethiopia, later from Nubia to South Sudan and probably with the Luo in the 15th and 16th. Century up the White Nile to Uganda.

For the names of some East African lyres, Gerhard Kubik determined a relationship and thus possibly a cultural relationship with Ethiopian lyres. In South Sudan the lyres are called thom by the following Nilotic peoples : by the Schilluk, the Dinka , the Nuer and tom by the Bari . In the Mittu language, which is now extinct in South Sudan, the name for lyre was thomu . The Kakwa in northwest Uganda also know a lyre tom , the Luo in Kenya and Tanzania a thum .

The word tom or thum can cover a wide range of meanings in the individual languages. With the Schilluk, tom also denotes the rainmaker's dance, which is part of the most important annual festival, which is performed at the beginning of the month alabor (according to the lunar calendar of the Schilluk) at the new moon just before the start of the rainy season. For this and at festive dances ( bul ) and at funeral ceremonies ( ywok ), Schilluk play the sacred tubular drum tom , which is reserved for religious occasions and dances for the king. In comparison, thum with the Luo describes the entire field of traditional music in addition to the lyre , i.e. the singing accompanied by a lyre, a fiddle ( orutu ), an accordion ( onanda ) or a guitar ( gita ).

Design and style of play

The tom is a rare form of the clover. Instead of a circular half-shell, its body consists of a lengthways halved log of about 40 centimeters in length, which is hollowed out in the shape of a tub and covered with untanned cowhide. The skin covers the open top of the shell and closes off the semi-circular sides. It is tensioned lengthways and crossways with a dense row of parallel cords. As with the Ugandan tube spit violin endingidi , the body is positioned at right angles to the strings. Two parallel wooden rods are tied to the upper edge of the body, at the end of which a yoke is also fixed by cords. A lyre with the same sound box is called jangar by the Ingassana speakers . You live in the eastern Sudanese state of an-Nil al-azraq on the Ethiopian border and otherwise refer to a cultural relationship between the two areas.

The musician tunes the five strings by twisting the cord loops that tie them to the yoke. Usually there is a large tolerance range when tuning such instruments, absolute pitches and tone intervals are not fixed. In a tom , pitch intervals between 234 and 283 cents were measured on the two outer strings . The strings are numbered 3–2–1–5–4, with the first three strings plucked with the fingers of the left hand and the last two strings with the right hand.

The way of playing follows the African method, in which the strings are plucked individually. In contrast, the Ingassa play their identical instrument according to the Nubian tradition and strike all the strings with a pick , while the other hand covers the strings that are not supposed to sound from behind.

Some East African lyres, like the Ethiopian beganna, have a sacred meaning. The Luo regard their lyre nyatiti as an instrument that brings good luck and averts harm. The chief leader of the Shilluk is the king ( reth ), who traces his ancestry back to the mythical, god-like tribal founder Nyikang (or Nyakang). Shrines in the form of a homestead with round houses ( tukul ) are consecrated to him in Fenikang and elsewhere , which are regarded as his home. Nyikang is the son of Okwa and his wife Nyikayo nya Kiir ("daughter of the river"), his home is the area around Rumbek in central South Sudan. The huts are named after their function as the home of Nyikang and his family. The most revered hut is Nyikang's sleeping place ( duwad ). According to a publication from 1932, Nyikang's royal possessions were kept in it. According to informants, they consisted of a metal throne with “eyes” (probably meant a layered leopard skin ), the ceremonial drum and the lyre tom , both of which were also made of metal. There were also calabashes and other household items made of copper and clay, four elephant tusks and finally a vessel with holy water. According to tradition, Nyikang comes as a wind at night and stays for a while to visit. Nyikang's presence in Fenikang is noticeable to the people around him when they hear him playing his lyre.

Nyikang's deeds are sung in many songs and accompanied by the singer on tom . The bard ( ček or wau ) is a poet and composer of mythical-historical songs, most valued when they praise the current king ( reth ) and his ancestors.

literature

  • Artur Simon : Sudan . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . Vol. 24. Macmillan Publishers, London 2001, pp. 656f
  • Artur Simon: Music in Sudan. In: Ruth M. Stone (Ed.): The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Vol. 1. Africa. Garland Publishing, New York / London 1998, pp. 568f

Web links

  • Lyre. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology (photo)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ulrich Wegner: African string instruments. (New episode 41. Department of Ethnic Music V.) Museum für Völkerkunde Berlin 1984, p. 99
  2. ↑ Lyres. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Part 5, 1996, Col. 1045
  3. ^ David E. Creese: The Origin of the Greek Tortoise-Shell Lyre. (PDF file; 6.03 MB) MA. Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, August 1997, pp. 75f
  4. ↑ Simon: Garland, p. 569
  5. ↑ Charles Nyakiti Orawo: Innovation: A Measure for the Control of Cultural Changes in the Survival for the Luo Thum Traditions. In: International Journal of Current Research, Volume 33, Issue 5, May 2011, pp. 160-163.
  6. ↑ Simon: Garland, p. 565
  7. ^ Gerhard Kubik , Artur Simon: Africa south of the Sahara. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present. Part 5, 1996, Col 107
  8. ↑ Shilluk shrine of Nyakang. Pitt Rivers Museum
  9. ↑ Lam Akol : A Historical Background of the Collo . Anyuak Media, September 24, 2010
  10. ^ Charles Gabriel Seligman , Brenda Zara Seligman: Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan. G. Routledge & Sons, London 1932, pp. 80f ( online at Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Simon: New Grove, p. 657