Umrhubhe

Umrhubhe , also umrubhe, umrube (plural imirhubhe ), umqunge, is an arch of the mouth of the Xhosa and Mpondo in the South African province of Eastern Cape , drawn with a stick . To this day, it is mainly played by women and girls in its simplest form, which consists of a curved wooden stick covered with a string made of wire or plant fibers. A second form with a two-part string carrier has practically disappeared. A whispered tone is part of the special way of playing, which, together with the overtones emphasized by the targeted reinforcement of the mouth, results in a two-part melody line.

Design and style of play

The Xhosa musician Madosini plays umrhubhe .

A mouth bow is a musical bow in which the sound is amplified not by a resonance body brought into contact with the string carrier but with the oral cavity, with the player holding either the rod or the string at one end to the partially open mouth. The string support of a musical bow is flexible and more or less strongly curved, in contrast to the straight and rigid string support of a rod zither .

The distinction between two variants of this mouth bow type goes back to the Scottish ethnomusicologist Percival Kirby (1887–1970), whose main work from 1934 and his musical instrument collection are essential for the description of South African musical instruments. According to Kirby, the older variant only appeared among the Mpondo (Pondo) in the 1930s and was called umqunge by them. This type is still used today. It consists of a solid rod about 65 centimeters long, the diameter of which is a good 15 millimeters and which is strongly curved in the middle. David Rycroft (1966) gives the following dimensions for a copy of the Mpondo made at the time: length of the string support 66 centimeters, diameter 13 to 16 millimeters, length of the string 47 centimeters, length of the rubbing rod 53 centimeters and its diameter 4 to 6 millimeters. With the Xhosa he found larger mouth arches, the strings were on average 65 to 70 centimeters long. The material for the stick is a twig with the characteristics of a hazel bush , which is regionally called ulizi . The finished bow stick is called intonga . The string ( icingo ) made of wire or vegetable fibers, now mostly made of brass wire, is tied to both ends of the rod. The standing musician holds the mouth bow with the left hand at the far end vertically downwards with the bow stick on the left side in front of her upper body and with her mouth encloses the upper end of the stick. With the rubbing stick consisting of a thin straight branch between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, she strokes the lower end of the string. As umrhubhe according to Dave Dargie the simple mouth bow around is Lady Frere in the Eastern Cape known. In the 1980s, Dargie undertook music-ethnological research among the Xhosa at an institute of the old Lumko mission twelve kilometers south of this small town. The Xhosa, who live in the backward rural area, have adopted a number of linguistic and musical influences from the Khoisan .

The other type of mouth bow, which the Xhosa and Zulu called umrhubhe according to Kirby , has a two-piece string carrier. For this purpose, a shorter section of a thinner, elastic branch is inserted into an approximately straight, solid piece of a hollow branch of the tree species Cussonia spicata (Kohlbaum, Swazi and Xhosa umsenge ), which bends with a strong curvature when the string is stretched. This type of string, which is very rare today, consists of wire, vegetable fibers or twisted rushes . The Swazi called Kirby According to this type utiyane or iPiano . The musician held the utiyane with his left hand at the lower, thicker end of the stick pointing upwards so that the upper end of the stick brushes past the mouth and right cheek and the thin, curved stick protrudes upwards. At the end he grasped the rubbing stick between the extended thumb and the fingers of his right hand, which were bent into the monkey grip, and also stroked the lower part of the string.

Bowing the string creates a series of overtones above the fundamental , which can be emphasized by changing the mouth. With the thumb or the middle finger of the left hand, a second keynote can also be picked, which is a whole tone above the first. Starting from the fundamental d of the open string, according to Percival Kirby, the 3rd (a ¹ ), 4th (d ² ), 5th (f sharp ² ) and 6th partial (a ² ) result. Above the root of the shortened string are the 3rd (b ¹ ), 4th (es ² ), 5th (g ² ) and 6th partial tones (b ² ). Only the 3rd to 5th partial tone of the fundamental tone d and of the higher fundamental tone only the 3rd and 4th partial tone are used.

Dave Dargie gave for the range of the umrhubhe : Root F of the open string with the partial tones f – c ¹ –f ¹ –a ¹ –e ¹ and root G of the shortened string with the partial tones g – d ¹ –g ¹ –h ¹ –D ¹ . The tone scale of the umrhubhe arises in the alternating play with shortened and unshortened strings . A pentatonic scale is aimed for, although a hexatonic tone sequence could also be produced if the fifth partial tone above the higher fundamental tone were also used. The umrhubhe differs acoustically from other musical arcs because the first overtone, which is an octave above the fundamental, is clearly more audible than the fundamental. The prerequisite for creating the desired overtones is the correct relationship between the length and the tension of the string. With appropriate practice, a range between a ¹ or b ¹ and d ³ can be achieved with umrhubhe . In the 1950s, Hugh Tracey heard the slightly lower initial tone g ¹ with the ikinki mouth arch .

The umrhubhe the Zulu in the version with two-stave was played Kirby's observations According in the 1930s only by men, while the one-piece and thus presumably older version of women and girls mainly used today is played as David Rycroft mentioned 1966th A painted mouthbow called ikinki , which was only played by women, was already encountered by Hugh Tracey while making sound recordings in the Xhosa area in the 1950s, although it is unclear whether it was the same or a different instrument. The mouth bow is used as a soloist or to accompany choral singing according to the cyclical call and response pattern . The melody line of the umrhubhe created with the overtones corresponds to the part of the lead singer.

To represent the overtones three to six above the fundamental of the open or shortened string, the musician opens her lips a little on one side and changes the volume of the oral cavity with her tongue while she breathes through her nose so that normally no air escapes through her mouth. With the mouth positions for the pronunciation of the vowels U via A to I, the individual overtones can be reached in ascending order. The sound generation in jew's harps is similarly controlled by the oral cavity . European metal jaw harps were already widely used in the 1930s. When playing the oral bow, short melodic phrases with slight variations are repeated over and over again. In contrast to the silent fundamental tones, individual overtones can be heard clearly from the first octave above the fundamental tones.

A special feature is a whispering voice ( umrhubhe nomlozi ), which some musicians add from the corner of their mouth while playing. A whispered sound can be created by inhaling or exhaling with the mouth and is independent of the sound produced by the string. Whispering is also possible without simultaneously bowing the string. Certain melodies arise from the superposition of whisper tones and the overtones produced by the string. Not all musicians have mastered the whisper technique. Usually, you learn to play with the bow first, followed by the additional use of the whisper. The method of singing notes is even more complex. It is not possible to whisper and at the same time bring out the high overtones of the string audibly, because the mouth has to be almost closed when whispering, which attenuates the high overtones. Experienced musicians can nevertheless consistently, albeit indistinctly, create a polyphonic sound from two melodies. Low notes sound less clear with a whisper and are more difficult to produce than high notes, which sound sharper and louder.

Typical of the choral singing of the Xhosa is the division of the voices into different pitches, so that a polyphony is created in parallel intervals. Parallel melodies mean a single melody in Xhosa music. The harmonic intervals for both the Xhosa and the Tsonga , which use the scrap arch xizambi to accompany choral singing, are octaves, fourths, fifths and, in addition, the third, which is not used in the Tsonga. Alternatively, several voices that sing different melodies and texts in a cyclical sequence are layered to form a polyphonic overall sound. Often new lines of text ( izicabo ) are added through improvisation .

Probably the most impressive element of Xhosa women's singing is the overtone singing umngqokolo (Xhosa language, "rough voice"), in which the singers sing the melody tones of the text lines and at the same time force the voice into an underlying bass tone that sounds very rough. The harmonic intervals of the bass and melody tone correspond to the relationship between the fundamental tone and partial tones in the mouth bow, and the tonal result is also comparable. The umngqokolo part usually leads the choir, or - if available - the mouth arch.

The overtones of the umrhubhe correspond to the melody of the lead singer and the whispering voice is usually the answer of the choir as the musicians understand it; unless, in one playing style, the tones generated in both ways are combined into a single melodic pattern. In rare cases, two imirhubge occur together. In a sound recording from the village of Ngqoko (near Lumko), two musicians umrhubhe nomlozi first play for themselves, then the women's choir begins. The use of cross-rhythms , hidden rhythmic patterns, and delay techniques is part of the delivery style that needs to be lively . Two or sometimes more beats are always used in a song , often starting from different starting points. Most of the songs have their own rhythmic pattern.

distribution

The name umrhubhe is borrowed from the Khoisan languages like umqangi (a grater mouth arch of the Xhosa) and umngqungqo (a woman's round dance ) . The voiceless velar fricative rh (u) contained in umrhubhe seems to be onomatopoeic and to imitate the rubbing sound of the bow. As more names were in use for musical instruments are frequent and could next umqunge the words with the same onomatopoeic quality umqangi, umqunge and diminutives umqangala and umqengele the mouth bow umrhubhe have referred. These names, also from Khoisan languages, have the palatal click q, which indicates that they may have been introduced at a time when the string of the mouth arch was struck with a stick. In Hogsback one which comes umrhubhe corresponding mouth bow before the inkinge called and the string is alternately painted or beaten. It could be equivalent to Hugh Tracey's ikinki in the 1950s. The mouth arch type umrhubhe , which still exists today, goes back to musical influences of the Khoisan. In the small area around Lumka, rare musical forms have been preserved with the whisper technique umrhubhe nomlozi , with imirhubhe playing in duets and with women's overtone singing umngqokolo .

Musical arcs in southern Africa are almost all used to form melodies. An extremely rare exception is the lipuruboro hunting bow struck as a rhythm instrument in the Kavango region of Namibia, which is musically connected to the local jaw harp ruwenge , which is also played rhythmically . The simple construction principle of musical bows allows the string to vibrate using different techniques: striking (for example the gourd music bow umakhweyane of the Zulu), plucking ( mtyangala in Malawi), stroking, blowing on ( gora der Khoisan) or indirectly the bow stick with one Schrapstab stimulate ( isizembe Zulu and nxoronxoro the !Kung ). The single-stringed string instruments include the stab zither isankuni , also played by the Mpondo in the Eastern Cape , whose string, reinforced by a tin canister, is bowed with a short bow. Related to this is the somewhat more elaborately constructed trog zither segankuru of the Batswana , which is bowed with a bow .

In some areas of the Eastern Cape Province, Xhosa women play the strongly curved calabash musical bow uhadi next to the umrhubhe , the string of which is struck with a long stick. The uhadi is used by women to accompany their chants in the evening and at night. Both string instruments are characteristic of the music of the Xhosa.

literature

• Dave Dargie: The Xhosa Umrhubhe Mouthbow. An Extraordinary Musical Instrument. In: African Music: Journal of the International Library of African Music, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2011, pp. 33-55
• Percival R. Kirby : The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa. (1934) 2nd edition: Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg 1965
• David K. Rycroft: Friction Chordophones in South-Eastern Africa . In: The Galpin Society Journal , Vol. 19, April 1966, pp. 84-100
• David K. Rycroft: Umrhubhe. In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments . Vol. 5, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 141

Web links

• Madosini Motokali . Youtube video ( Madosini plays umrhubhe )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography of a Colonial Music Archive: The Percival Kirby Collection. The Archival Platform, October 27, 2010
2. ^ Percival R. Kirby, 1965, p. 239
3. ^ David K. Rycroft, 1966, p. 87
4. ^ Dave Dargie, 2011, p. 39
5. ^ Dawn Joseph, Alvin Petersen: Recognizing and Celebrating Xhosa Traditional Music in South Africa. In: ANZARME. Proceedings of the XXXth Annual Conference: innovation and tradition: music education research, 3–5 October 2008, Australian and New Zealand Association for Research in Music Education, Melbourne 2008, pp. 160–170, here p. 168
6. ^ Percival R. Kirby, 1965, plate 68 B.
7. ^ Percival R. Kirby, 1965, p. 239
8. ^ Percival R. Kirby, 1965, plate 69
9. ^ Percival R. Kirby, 1965, p. 240
10. ↑ Dave Dargie (2011, p. 40)
11. ^ Ulrich Wegner: African string instruments. Volume 2. (New episode 41. Department of Ethnic Music V.) Museum für Völkerkunde Berlin 1984, p. 26
12. ^ David K. Rycroft, 1966, p. 93
13. ↑ David K. Rycroft, 1966, pp. 86f
14. ↑ Dave Dargie (2011, p. 40)
15. ^ David K. Rycroft, 1966, p. 88
16. ^ Dave Dargie (2011, p. 36)
17. ↑ Dave Dargie, 2011, pp. 45f
18. ^ Dave Dargie, 2011, p. 42
19. ↑ See Dave Dargie: Some recent developments in Xhosa music: activities of the Ngqoko Traditional Xhoa Music Ensemble, and at the University of Fort Hare. Paper for ICTM, Vienna, 2007
20. ↑ David Dargie: Umngqokolo: Xhosa Overtone Singing and the Song Nondel'ekhaya. In: Journal of International Library of African Music, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1991, pp. 33-47, here p. 40
21. ↑ Dave Dargie, 2011, pp. 46f, 51
22. ^ Dave Dargie, 2011, p. 39
23. ↑ Dave Dargie, 2011, pp. 36f; David K. Rycroft, 1966, p. 99, footnote 12
24. ↑ Dave Dargie: Ruwenge: Researching a Kavango Jew's Harp, South Africa. tranquanghaidanmoivn
25. ↑ See David Dargie: Umakhweyane: A Musical Bow and is Contribution to Zulu Music. In: African Music: Journal of the International Library of African Music, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2007, pp. 60-81
26. ^ Percival R. Kirby, 1965, p. 242
27. ↑ Jonathan Ncozana: Learning to Play a Musical Bow in Mkhonjana Village - Nothembile and her Granddaughter. In: The Talking Drum, No. 35, July 2011, pp. 8f