Tongs (bell)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zang ( Persian زنگ, "Bell"), Uyghur , Uzbek zang , Armenian zangak , also čang ( chang ), Turkish çan , are bells, bells or cymbals that are used for rhythmic accompaniment in Iranian , Turkish , Afghan music as well as in the Caucasus and some regions of the southern Central Asia . In Iran zang means finger cymbals ( zang-e sarangoscht , also zang-e saringoschti ) or bell ( zang-e zurchaneh ) in corresponding word combinations , in Iraq small pair basins are called zanj . In northern Afghanistan , the long-necked dambura player produces an accompanying rhythm with the zang-i kaftar bells worn on the wrist . In Uzbekistan , zang stands for chains made of small copper or brass bells that dance girls wear on their wrists or ankles. After the old word çeng for finger cymbal, today replaced by zil in Turkish , a belly dancer is called çengi in Turkish .

Elephant clock of al-Jazari , constructed by al-Jazari around 1205. The tower-like invention to display the time is carried in the Syrian miniature of a manuscript from around 1315 by an elephant hung with a bell.

Origin of the bells

Babylonian terracotta figures from the 2nd millennium BC Chr. Hold small pair of basins in their hands, the originals of which were probably made of bronze. Such bronze basins from around 1200 BC Were in Syria and from the middle of the 9th century BC. Found in Egypt. From the 17th Egyptian dynasty (16th century BC), professional musicians who were permanently employed by wall paintings, such as the drummer Emhab, who were handed down by name and who played sistras , bells, rattles and castanets at the temple for liturgical purposes, are known . Terracotta figures with basins from ancient Egypt are dated to the Greek era . Many bronze, silver and gold bells that were in use in Egypt and the Middle East also date from this period.

One of the musical instruments mentioned in the Old Testament was called paʿāmon , a word belonging to the Semitic root pʿm , one of the meanings of which is “to strike” or “to strike”. The word refers to bells (metal vessels rattle ) or bells that were attached to the purple robe of the high priest. According to Ex 28,33f  EU , golden bells and pomegranates hung alternately on its hem. Such bells on the hem of clothing are also proven by extra-biblical written sources. The oldest finds of bells come from Megiddo and are in the 9th / 8th centuries. Century BC Dated. The bells with clapper are made of bronze, 2.5 to 6.5 centimeters high, about hemispherical and have an eyelet as a hanger. The numerous finds of bells in the Palestine area during the Greco-Roman period are somewhat smaller . Since it was mentioned in the Old Testament (in connection with the pomegranates), the bells have had a magical protective function.

An old Arabic word from pre-Islamic times for a hand bell that was part of the liturgy of the Orthodox churches in the Middle East is nāqūs . The bishop walked around the altar, striking the nāqūs three times , followed by other churchmen who did the same. Nāqūs were also called wooden clappers and wooden pickguards, which were used instead of church bells to call Christians to worship.

According to al-Masʿūdī, in the first centuries AD the Arab tribes played a stringed instrument (perhaps the long-necked tunbūr ), the lute barbat , mizhar or kirān , the reed instrument mizmar , the frame drum duff , the rattles nāqūs and the to accompany the singing dancing girls Bell ghalāghil . An important medieval Arabic manuscript of the Maqāmāt ("assemblies") of al-Hariri originated in 1237 in Baghdad . It contains illustrations by the painter Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti . The 31st Maqāma shows an extremely lively scene of a caravan of pilgrims riding on camels and donkeys on their way to Mecca . In addition to the large tubular drums ( tabl ) and smaller kettle drums ( naqqara ), the music- making group strikes pair cymbals ( sunūgh ), gongs ( tusūt ) and bells ( ghalāghil ).

A manuscript of the Shāhnāme made in Tabriz around 1370 contains the illustration of a turbulent battle scene in which the weapons of the Persian troops fighting the Mongols also included noisy equipment intended to instill fear in the enemy. A hydraulic organ and a mobile frame with large bells called ghulghul al-siyāh ("noisy bell") were also transported.

Noise as a weapon of war is much older and already known from antiquity: The Parthians in the Iranian highlands and southern Central Asia gave battle signals with trumpets and drums and frightened their opponents with large hollow bodies covered with fur, which, in addition to their loud thunderclap, made a high-pitched noise because of the rattles and bells attached to it produced, as from Plutarch's description of the battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. Chr. Emerges. According to ancient Indian sources and according to Greek mythology, the use of trumpets and "battle drums" with metal bells in them goes back to an Indian tradition.

One of the locations where bells were found in southern Central Asia was the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Urban settlement of Baktra ( Balch ) that emerged in BC . In addition to many pottery items, bells from the 1st millennium BC were also found in the burial grounds. Found. Bronze bells are known from the Sassanid Empire (224–651). Bronze bells with clappers, which were probably attached to a belt, come from two burial fields in the Siberian region of Khabarovsk (Nadeschdinskoje and Korsakowa), which were laid out between the 7th and 9th centuries AD . Bells and other metal appendages on belts have been part of the clothing of nomads in the Asian steppes since the 7th century. They have survived to this day as part of the shaman's costume. In many areas of Siberia and Central Asia, bells and bells were unearthed, which were sewn to clothing or shoes and were supposed to ward off evil spirits or the evil eye . This function was also performed by spherical bells with a slot from Sogdian and Bactrian graves of the 7th / 8th centuries. Century that belonged to a necklace.

In the Assyrian Empire, bronze bells with and without iron clappers hung on the bridles of horses and donkeys. Tradition has it that the Prophet Mohammed was not happy about the bells (Arabic jaras ) hanging on the necks of beasts of burden in pre-Islamic times in Arabia . Angels would avoid caravans that make such noises, it is said. Grave finds in Central Asia from the 2nd century BC Until 8/10. Century AD also show that the harness was hung with bells and bells. In the epic Shāhnāme by the Persian poet Firdausi (940 / 941-1020) it is mentioned that elephants were hung with large golden bells and bells in processions. Sources from the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618–907) describe the performances of “Turkish” dancers, that is, dancers who immigrated from western regions, who wore bells and bells for rhythmic accompaniment.

Numerous depictions of gods on wall paintings in the Sogdian city of Old Punjakent (near Punjakent , Tajikistan, 5th century) are hung with bells and bells on strings, which is why these clinking metals were of religious importance in addition to their decorative function. Such a wall painting from the palace of Old Punjakent depicts a goddess on a throne who is holding a ladder-like object in her right hand, with numerous bells hanging from its crossbars and which obviously served to produce sound. The object, presumably brought as a gift from the goddess, has parallels to two shaking idiophones that are still used in the region today. One of them is called safail ( sapai ) by the Uzbeks , Tajiks and Uighurs and consists of two wooden sticks to which metal rings are attached. A clinking noise is produced when it is shaken. The safail as today serves similar qairāq (two counter-whipped river pebbles) and qoschuq ( "wooden spoon ") in the dance music to accompany. Originally it was used by shamans and later by Qalandar used (traveling dervishes) in the ritual music. The other is the zang used in Tajik dance music : small bells attached to a leather strap that dancers wear on their wrists or legs.

Word spreading

The word ṣanǧ ( sandsch, sanj , plural ṣunūǧ ) for “cymbal”, which occurs in medieval Arabic literature , probably comes from the Persian čang ( tschang ), at the same time ṣanǧ was a term for the Arabic harp less common than ǧank . The historical angular harp tschang ( chang ) was widespread in the Near and Middle East. In addition, chang ( chang ) is the name of a dulcimer similar to the Persian santur , which the Uzbeks and Tajiks occasionally use in classical Shashmaqam . A Central Asian Turkish source from the 11th century called çenğ finger cymbals, which are now called zil in Turkish . As çeng-i harbî for a musical genre played by military bands ( mehterhâne ) and as çengi (belly dancer), the word has survived in Turkish. In Uzbek cymbals and bells hot zang ( chang, chang ) and Tatar Чаң ( chang ), on Uzbeks in Afghanistan but tüsak . The Arabic-Persian sanj is one of the many names for Indian cymbals as jhanj, alongside manjira, tal or elathalam . The kettle drum pairs naqqāra , long trumpets nafīr and sanj , along with other loud-sounding musical instruments, formed the Naubat palace orchestra in the Mughal Empire .

Persian zang means "bell" and "cymbal"; zangūla stands for the bells on the frame drum , corresponding to dayereh-e zangi ( dāyera zangī or dayere zangi ), a dayereh with bells. On Persian miniatures from the end of the 14th to the beginning of the 18th century ( Timurids to Safavids ) are most often depicted dayereh with five metal plates. In Afghanistan, besides zang for “cymbal”, the word tal , which is widespread in India, is also used , which is derived from Sanskrit tala (“palm”, “to beat”, “meter”), the rhythmic structure of Indian music . The Zimbelzang is differentiated in Afghanistan from the Jew's harp chang ( čang ). Zang is modified in medieval Armenian zangak, "bell", zangakik ( zangulak ), "bells" and zangakalezou , "bell clapper" before and as Georgian loanword ( zangalawi ( zangalaki ), "bells". Zang-e sarangoschti ( saringoshti ) are the Finger cymbals struck at dances in Iran, which, according to the representations on Persian miniatures, are part of the old oriental dance tradition.

Style of play

Dance girl with finger cymbals. Typical brightly colored painting of the Qajar period , 19th century

In Iraq, zanj is usually understood to be a pair of brass or bronze pools, which come in different sizes. The cords to hold on to are attached to a hole in the center of the hump. Iraqi pair pools were used in military music, in churches and for all kinds of other processions. In the Shiite Passion Play, they provide musical accompaniment in addition to the cylinder drum dammām . Small finger cymbals with a diameter of four to five centimeters are also called zanj less often .

In the “fitness center” Zurchaneh (“power house”), which has a long tradition in Iran and neighboring countries, the men strengthen their muscles to the rhythm of the bell zang-e zurchaneh and the tumbler drum tombak ( zarb ). A musician, who uses both instruments and occasionally sings, sits on the raised edge of the always octagonal arena. The music should create a relaxed atmosphere during the strenuous strength training and the competitions. The zang also marks the beginning, the change and the end of the exercises.

The oldest excavated bronze bells in Armenia date from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The Armenian bell zangak came or still occurs occasionally for the rhythmic accentuation of some chants in the liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Church , sometimes together with cymbals. The zangak is hemispherical, has a small iron clapper and is made in different pitches. The zangak is otherwise not used in Armenian music .

The zang-i kaftar ("pigeon bell") are a pair of ring-shaped bells tied together on a short string and used in popular music in northern Afghanistan. A clamp with a diameter of 2.5 centimeters consists of a sheet of sheet metal that has been bent in a circle so that the longitudinal edges meet in the middle of the outside. The cords that connect the two bells are attached to metal pins that make the sound as rattles inside the bells. A long-necked dambura player occasionally wears four or five interconnected pairs of jingles on his right wrist and shakes them while he plucks the strings. The dambura player - predominantly of Uzbek origin - performs as a soloist in tea houses ( samowad ) with his singing or he accompanies two singers. Ensembles in tea houses also play the two-string fiddle ghichak , the beaker drum zerbaghali and finger cymbals ( zang, Uzbek tüsak ). The finger cymbals in northern Afghanistan probably go back to Indian influence. The method of a rhythmic accompaniment refers to the relationship of the tea house songs to dance music.

literature

  • Jeremy Montagu: Zang, and Zanj. In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments . Vol. 5. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 371

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Hickmann: Ancient Egyptian Music. In: Bertold Spuler (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Orientalistik. 1. Dept. The Near and Middle East. Supplementary Volume IV. Oriental Music. EJ Brill, Leiden / Cologne 1970, p. 147
  2. ^ Marcelle Duchesne-Guillemin: Music in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. In: World Archeology, Vol. 12, No. 3 ( Archeology and Musical Instruments ) February 1981, pp. 287-297, here pp. 289f
  3. ↑ Joachim Braun: Biblical musical instruments. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . (MGG) Volume 1, Bärenreiter, Kassel 1994, Sp. 1503-1537, here Sp. 1521f
  4. ^ Musical Instruments . In: Aziz S. Atiya (Ed.): The Coptic Encyclopedia . Volume 6, Macmillan Publishing, New York 1991, pp. 1738-1741
  5. ^ Henry George Farmer : A History of Arabian Music to the XIIIth Century . London 1929, p. 6 (Luzac & Company, London 1967, 1973; at Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Henry George Farmer: Islam. ( Heinrich Besseler , Max Schneider (Hrsg.): Music history in pictures. Volume III. Music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Delivery 2) VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1966, p. 76, 82
  7. ↑ Valerii P. Nikonorov: Use of Musical percussion instrument in Ancient Eastern Warfare: the Parthian and Middle Asian Evidence. In: Ellen Hickmann, Ingo Laufs, Ricardo Eichmann (eds.): Studies on music archeology II. Music archeology in early metal ages. Lectures of the 1st symposium of the International Study Group on Music Archeology in the Michaelstein Monastery, 18. – 24. May 1998. Marie Leidorf, Rahden (Westfalen) 2000, pp. 71–81, here pp. 71f
  8. ^ Francis W. Galpin: The Music of the Sumerians and their Immediate Successors, the Babylonians and Assyrians . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1937; 2nd unchanged edition: Strasbourg University Press 1955, p. 11 (2010, ISBN 978-0-521-18063-4 )
  9. ↑ Henry George Farmer: Ṣandj . In: CE Bosworth et al. a. (Ed.): The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Vol. IX, Brill, Leiden 1997, p. 11a.
  10. ↑ G. Saitova, A. Mashurova, F. Mashurova: Some Laws of Rhythm formulas of Ussuli in the Dancing Culture of People in the Middle and the Central Asia. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Social, Education, Economics and Management Engineering. Vol 7, No 3, 2013, pp. 361–364, here p. 363
  11. ↑ FM Karomatov, VA Meškeris, TS Vyzgo: Central Asia . (Werner Bachmann (Hrsg.): Music history in pictures. Volume II: Music of antiquity. Delivery 9) Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1987, pp. 17, 46, 114, 126
  12. ↑ Henry George Farmer: Ṣandj . In: CE Bosworth et al. a. (Ed.): The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Vol. IX, Brill, Leiden 1997, pp. 9b-10
  13. ↑ Laurence Picken : Folk Musical Instruments of Turkey. Oxford University Press, London 1975, pp. 16, 32, ISBN 978-0193181021
  14. ^ Jean During, Veronica Doubleday: Daf (f) and Dayera. In: Encyclopædia Iranica .
  15. ↑ Curt Sachs : Real Lexicon of Musical Instruments at the same time a polyglossary for the entire field of instruments. Julius Bard, Berlin 1913, p. 429a
  16. ↑ Jeremy Montagu: Zanj. In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments , 2014, p. 371
  17. ↑ Khashayar Heidari: Zurkhaneh - Guidebook. ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. International Zurkhaneh Sports Federation, Sydney 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.izsf.net
  18. ↑ Tiran Nersoyan (trans.): Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church: With Variables, Complete Rubrics and Commentary. 5th edition, Armenian Church, London 1984, chapter: Vestments and Vessels used in the Divine Liturgy, pp. 247-256, here p. 256
  19. ^ Mark Slobin: Music in the Culture of Northern Afghanistan. (Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology, 54) The University of Arizona Press, Tucson (Arizona) 1976, pp. 107, 270f