Valimba

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Valimba , also ulimba, malimba , is a frame xylophone with 20 to 24 sound bars and resonators made of calabashes , which is played for entertainment by the Sena, a Bantu-speaking ethnic group in the south of Malawi and in central Mozambique . Three musicians sitting in a row, each with two mallets, each serve an area with around a dozen chime bars.

Origin and Distribution

Xylophones are found in large parts of Black Africa : as a solo instrument, to accompany singers who sing praises of the king and tell stories, i.e. perform in a formal style at court, and also in an ensemble at dance events. The Chopi in Mozambique play up to 25 different sized timbila (sg. Mbila ) at the same time. In addition to small xylophones for one player, a maximum of six musicians can act on one large instrument. The latter is the case with spar xylophones, where the sound bars are placed over two banana trunks. Such xylophones are specially set up before the start of each game, whereas frame, box and trough xylophones are prefabricated. In the case of frame xylophones, calabashes hung underneath increase the resonance; The body of box and trough xylophones ( inanga ) serves this purpose . Calabash resonators are also common under the sound bars of small carrying bracket xylophones, which are hung on a string around the neck and played while standing.

The distribution center of the valimba is the lower reaches of the Shire in the south of Malawi around the city of Nsanje and in the neighboring Mozambique. The instrument got there via Mozambique from further east. The southern distribution area of ​​the spar xylophones in East Africa is northern Mozambique, where the mangwilo with six to seven sound bars is found. In 1963 in northern Mozambique, Gerhard Kubik also found a trough xylophone called mambira with 17 sound plates, which consisted of a wooden box nailed together and which evokes comparisons with Indonesian instruments.

The general origin and distribution of the African xylophones was controversial. Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980) argued that Africa was colonized from Indonesia in the 1st millennium. In this way primarily xylophones from Java , where they occur in gamelan, and double handbells ( gankogui in West Africa, similar to the kemanak in Java) came to Africa. African ethnomusicologists in particular accused Jones of only dealing with museum musical instruments and doing little field research, and rejected a large part of his theses, also because archaeologically - in contrast to Madagascar - hardly any conclusive evidence of an Indonesian settlement appeared on the African mainland are. In contrast, the theory is accepted, according to which the Malagasy bamboo tube zither valiha and the East African flat stick zithers zeze probably go back to a Malay cultural import.

Valimba and on Chichewa ulimba are just two of several names for xylophones in the region. Other ethnic groups refer to comparable or simpler xylophones without resonators as varimba, marimba, silimba, ngambi (in the Shona dialect Ndau) and bachi . With these and the names kalimba, ilimba or madogo , from Namibia to Mozambique and Zambia to Tanzania , lamellophones can also be meant. The word stem –limba (or –rimba ) denotes xylophones and lamellophones in large parts of Southeast Africa, but does not occur outside of this region. Limba is in Malawi and Ostsambia a xylophone from a sound panel, which is placed with a construction of baton in a short distance above the opening of a large round gourd and consequently a sound produces (Eintonxylophon, pot xylophone). Usually four or up to 20 single-tone xylophones form an ensemble ( alimba , pl. From limba ).

Design

The body consists of a frame ( chisena ntanda ) more than two meters long made of boards placed on edge, which form a narrow trapezoid, the shape of which corresponds to the sound bars that get shorter from one side to the other. The shorter bars (Sg. And Pl. Mbango, mibango ) produce a higher tone. As with the Sena board zither bangwe, African padauk ( Pterocarpus angolensis , Chichewa mlombwa , Chisena mulombwa ), a hardwood that is also known as African teak, is used as wood for the frame and chime bars . The space between the boards is filled with dried bottle gourds (calabashes; Sena bzidudu, madudu, Chichewa chikasi ), which are selected as large as possible and fixed with the neck upwards close under each bar. The lower the tuning of the sound plate, the larger the calabash should be. If there is enough space, a second calabash can be placed under a sound plate.

So that the panels can swing freely, a support made of tufts of grass twisted into a strand or a corresponding bundle of banana leaves ( mphuthu ) is placed on the upper edge of the two longitudinal boards . A thin wooden stick is put across both strands of grass and through holes in the neck of the calabash to hold it in place. A cord runs parallel to the strands of grass, which is pulled through holes in the boards at regular intervals and looped around the upholstery for attachment. To prevent the chime bars from slipping sideways, a short loop is pulled through holes drilled at the support points of the bars and knotted with the cord. In contrast to this fixation method, the players of the spar xylophones in Uganda ( amadinda ) and northern Mozambique first insert thin dividing rods from above into the spars at regular intervals and then place the sound plates in between. Boards nailed at right angles to the frame corners serve as feet for the xylophone, which is tilted to one side on the floor towards the players. The correct height depends on the position of the players sitting in a row on low chairs. They use two mallets ( mithimbo ) made of wooden sticks or thin bamboo tubes ( tinsungwi ), the heads of which are made from wrapped strips of car tires or rubber hoses.

In order to add a fine vibrating (nasal) noise to the sound, one or two rectangular holes are cut in the sides of the calabashes and covered with cocoons ( mvema ) from African house spiders, alternatively cigarette paper or newspaper serves the purpose. Furthermore, the vibrations of the diaphragm ensure a significant increase in volume. Some maize porridge ( nsima ) is used as an adhesive . This method of changing the sound through a membrane ( Mirliton effect) in African xylophones is also used in the resonance bodies of some string instruments, such as the kerbsteg zither mvet in Cameroon. Choosing the right calabash depends on its sound quality. According to Andrew Tracey’s observation, the Chopi in Mozambique carefully tuned the calabashes on their timbila by tensioning the membrane and modeling the opening of the calabash with wax. During sound recordings with the Kambazithe Makolekole Valimba Band in 1991, however, he found that the Sena musicians limited themselves to choosing the shape of a calabash. To test its resonance, it was held upside down with the opening against a sound plate and struck it.

Style of play

A valimba is operated by three, rarely two, always male musicians who sit next to each other on the same side. The deepest sound bars are on the left side as seen by the players. In an instrument with 24 bars from the Kambazithe Makolekole Valimba Band , the playing positions were divided from left to right into magunte (lowest 13 bars ), pakati ( bars 8 to 20) and magogo (15 to 24). The lowest sounding record was not used. Plate 2, the lowest struck plate, had a predominantly rhythmic function. Plate 3 consisted of two pieces of wood lying on top of each other, which occasionally produced a rattle sound. For some pieces of music, the group performed with only two players at the valimba .

The sound bars of the valimba are almost equi- heptatonic , with the octave ideally divided into seven equal pitches, the interval of which is 171 cents . While the measurement results for the board zither bangwe and the valimba roughly agree with this value, the intervals for the Shona lamellophone mbira in Mozambique and Zimbabwe deviate more clearly. In addition to the distribution area of ​​the valimba , the equiheptatonic tone sequence developed in Africa among the Chopi in Mozambique and in the east of Angola . It was documented in Ghana and Benin City (Nigeria) at the beginning of the 20th century . Because of the underlying concept of equiheptatonic intervals, pieces of music can be resumed at different pitches after a pause or on other occasions, because all bars are equivalent for the formation of melodies. It just has to be noted that the pitch of a cyclically laid out piece lies within the range of the valimba of a good three and a half octaves.

An accompanying instrument of a xylophone ensemble is the small single-headed cylinder drum gaka , whose diameter and height are a good 20 centimeters. She stands with three legs on the floor and is often struck by the player of the high plates ( magogo ) with one hand while he operates the xylophone with a mallet in the other hand. A slightly larger drum ( jenje ), which is beaten with a stick and a palm, accompanies lamellophone ensembles in western Mozambique and in the neighboring Zimbabwe. The gaka usually holds the basic stroke . Another musician shakes two stem rattles ( nkhocho ), which consist of empty spray cans filled with stones, and occasionally dances to them. Apart from the one drum and rattle, the valimba does not play with any other instruments. Sometimes a large and small valimba are combined.

In contrast to the mbira dza vadzimu , whose religious significance is honored with a traditional way of playing, the musicians at the valimba enjoy the freedom to use melody patterns and rhythms of different origins according to their own taste and to mix new pieces with old pieces. The ensembles mainly perform at beer celebrations and weddings, in the evenings for casual entertainment, to accompany the dance of women, girls and boys. In rare cases they also play at funerals, but only if there is no Christian funeral ceremony at which the assembled congregation otherwise sings hymns. Kambazithe Makolekole, the leader of the group of the same name, stated in 1991 that he would also play with those possessed by a ghost if this ghost was related to valimba music. The treatment of the possessed is otherwise the task of the Vimbuza ritual.

Ulimba is also the name of a circle dance performed by men and women, performed to the accompaniment of one or more xylophones for entertainment, with the dancers moving clockwise around the musicians in the center. Post-burial funerals last all night, from evening to sunrise.

literature

  • Andrew Tracey: Valimba . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 3. Macmillan Press, London 1984, p. 706
  • Andrew Tracey: Kambazithe Makolekole and his Valimba Group: A Glimpse of the Technique of the Sena Xylophone . In: African Music, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1991, pp. 82-104
  • Andrew Tracey: Valimba. In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 3. Macmillan Press, London 1984, p. 706
  • Wim van Zanten: The Equidistant Heptatonic Scale of the Asena in Malawi . In: African Music , Vol. 6, No. 1, 1980, pp. 107-125

Discography

  • Southern and Central Malawi. Nyasaland. 1950, '57 '58. Mang'anja, Cewa, Yao. Field shots by Hugh Tracey . International Library of African Music / SWP Records 013, 2000, title 9
  • From lake Malawi to the Zambezi. Aspects of music and oral literature in south-east Africa in the 1990s. Field recordings by Moya Aliya Malamusi. Popular African Music, pamap 602, 1999, track 2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bianca Reichel, Mário Suarte Baloi: Timbila. Mozambique Circular, No. 82, May 2011, pp. 36–39
  2. ↑ Lois Anderson: The African Xylophone. In: African Arts , Vol. 1, No. 1, autumn 1967, p. 46f
  3. ↑ Mitchel Strumpf, p. 112
  4. ^ Gerhard Kubik : East Africa. Music history in pictures. Volume 1: Ethnic Music. Delivery 10. VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1982, p. 160
  5. ^ Gerhard Kubik: Discovery of a Through Xylophone in Northern Mozambique . In: African Music , Vol. 3, No. 2, 1963, pp. 11-14
  6. ^ Arthur Morris Jones : Africa and Indonesia: An Ancient Colonial Era . In: Klaus P. Wachsmann (Ed.): Essays on Music and History in Africa. Northwestern University Press, Evanston 1971, p. 83
  7. ↑ JH Kwabena Nketia: On the historicity of music in Africa . In: Erich Stockmann (Ed.): Music cultures in Africa. Verlag Neue Musik, Berlin (GDR) 1987, p. 51
  8. ^ Roger Blench: Using diverse sources of evidence for reconstructing the past history of musical exchanges in the Indian Ocean. Cambridge, June 28, 2014, p. 8f
  9. ^ Gerhard Kubik: Xylophone . In: Music in the past and present . Subject volume 17, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2007, Sp.2108f
  10. ↑ Andrew Tracey, 1991, pp. 84f
  11. ^ Gerhard Kubik: Ethno-Musicological Research in Southern Parts of Malawi. In: The Society of Malawi Journal , Vol. 21, No. 1, January 1968, pp. 20-32, here p. 22
  12. ↑ Andrew Tracey (1991, p. 87)
  13. ↑ Wim van Zanten, p. 109; Women playing xylophone are uncommon in southern Africa.
  14. ↑ Andrew Tracey, 1991, pp. 85f
  15. ^ John E. Kaemmer: Southern Africa. An introduction. In: Ruth M. Stone: (Ed.): Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Volume 1: Africa . Routledge, New York 1997, p. 711
  16. ^ Gerhard Kubik: The African Matrix in Jazz Harmonic Practices. In: Black Music Research Journal , Vol. 25, No. 1/2, spring – autumn 2005, pp. 167–222, here p. 200
  17. ↑ Andrew Tracey (1991, p. 96)
  18. ↑ Wim van Zanten, p. 109
  19. ↑ Moya Aliya Malamusi: Kambazithe Makolekole Valimba Band.
  20. ↑ Mitchel Strumpf: Some Music Traditions of Malawi . In: African Music, Vol. 7, No. 4, 1999, pp. 110-121, here p. 112