Voices & Instruments

After our trip around the five continents, learning about their music, we are going to show some of the instruments that are used in order to get the different sonorities that define them:

EUROPE

- Cimbalom: is a chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box with metal strings; striking two beaters against the strings produces the sound. It is an instrument used in Klezmer’s music.

- Bagpipe: it is made up of a bag that fills with air, a chanter where the melody is done and two pipes (roncón and ronqueta) that do the long notes (pedal notes). It’s used in Celtic music and also in the Galician one.

- Hurdy-gurdy: it’s a very old instrument (it comes from the organistrum that appears in the Portal of Glory of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral). Faustino Santalices recovered it. Its shape is similar to the one of a tilted violin, but the strings sound by rubbing them against another string that moves when a crank is spin.

- Tambourine : traditionally it was only played by women; it consists of a wooden ring with ferreñas (metalic circles that sound when clashed with each other). It is played in different ways depending on the area in Galicia.

- Guitar: stringed instrument derived from the lute or vihuela. It’s an instrument with the shape of the number eight, with 6 strings and a mastro.  In its centre it has a circular hole. It’s the main instrument in flamenco.

ASIA

- Koto: stringed instrument of Chinese origin. It has 13 strings, but there are also some with 17, 23, 30 and even 80. To make the strings sound two pieces of bamboo or ivory are used and they’re placed in the thumb, index and middle finger of the right hand. With the left hand the strings are plucked to modify the tuning.

- Sho: it’s a stringed instrument made of bamboo and it comes from China. It consists of 17 bamboo pipes that have a metal reed, except for two that are silent. It’s said to imitate the sound of a phoenix; the silent pipes resemble the two wings of the bird.

- Taiko: it’s a membranophone. It’s a big drum with wooden drumsticks called bachi. It’s used in traditional celebrations. Due to its huge weight (300kg) is usually left in a fixed place.

- Sitar: chordophone similar to the guitar, traditional from India. It’s identified by its delicate and bright sound, suitable for expressing the slow development of the ragas.

AFRICA

- Goblet drum (Darbuka): membranophone with the shape of a goblet or a hourglass, with a drumhead that it’s usually made of lambskin. Its name probably comes from the Arabic word “Darba” that means to bang. It’s played in the traditional way, holding it with a hand under the arm and banging it with the other. It’s an instrument related to Arabic music in general.

- Oud: plucked cordophone made of a pear-shaped body and a neck without frets, that is bent at the end (Arabic lute). There are always three rosetóns in the body. It had 4 strings at the beginning (for the 4 cardinal points) but they ended up adding one more. Now there are different types with different number of strings.

- Kora: cordophone with up till 25 strings, similar to a lute. It’s used in the music in the centre and the south of this continent.

- Balafon: it is an idiophone similar to a xylophone: it is made of wood, with calabash resonators, perfect for rhythmic music.

- Mbira (Kalimba): idiophone made of a wooden board with metal tines, played by plucking them with the thumbs.

AMERICA

- Shekere (Agbé): idiophone made of a dried gourd wrapped in a net in which beads are threaded. It’s typical from Brazilian music.

- Banjo: it’s one of the most important instruments in North American music. It’s a mixture between a stringed and a percussion instrument.  It’s guitar-shaped with a long neck and a round body. This body, which in fact is a wooden circle, has a head spread out as a drum, and many times it is played as such. It has 5 strings.

- Mexican Guitarrón: instrument typical from Mexico, which is the lowest. It has the shape of a very big guitar.

 

OCEANIA

- Didgeridoo: it’s a wind instrument used by the Maoris. It’s a wooden pipe that sounds when the lips inside vibrate, similar to the trumpet.  Its main function was to accompany a dance and a singer, setting the rhythm of the songs. It became famous when the English band Jamiroquai used it in some of their songs.