This picture shows the sound box of the imbabura harp.
http://www.coastonline.org/mml/topic/topicsSearch_detail.php?id=289
From this website I found some really interesting uses for the Imbabura harp other than what we talked about in class. There is a traditional festival called "Fiesta de San Juan" where the harp is played along with other instruments. The site states that the Imbarra Indians "summon each other with mournful wails on conch shells to congregate a night before the winter solstice, which is June 22 in South America, to practice a 500-year old ritual in which they bathe themselves in the icy Andean river with a bright, silvery moon above them and soaring 15,000-foot, cloud-covered volcanoes in the background. The purpose of this sacrament is to purify spirit and body against the sins committed during the last twelve months and to fortify them for the New Year." This is another instance where they mix their indigenous beliefs in with religion. It is like they are being re-baptized every year. This site is also great to give you more information on cultural blending between European influence and Indian influence especially.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of1Up3M_Y5Q
This video shows how music is incorporated into wedding ceremonies in Ghana. There are wonderful visuals of the lunas (talking drums) being played. You can also hear the lunsi reciting to the congregation. The poster of this video states that these songs are for praise. There are at least 5 or 6 different drummers playing at the same time. I assume that the people getting married are the ones underneath the umbrella being escorted to a church or just a building to gather. The music is so dominate throughout and you can really see the importance of the drum.
http://www.pygmies.org/baka/music.asp
I think that this is the best site that I have found! There are many pictures of the people making instruments and playing them. There is a picture of a woman creating a rattle out of woven plant fiber. I was particularly interested by the photo of the two boys playing water drums in a river. (I can't post the picture because of copyright) This reminded me of the water drums we talked about with the Native Americans. It looks as if these boys might have just put the drums in the water to change the timbre of the sound. The site also provides audio recordings from the area. Mauro Luis Devin Campagnoli has documented everything on this site with videos, audio, and pictures.
I really enjoyed the video of the wedding ceremony. It was nice seeing music used in such a joyous occasion. The drums seem to be a central focus. I wonder if the musicians were hired or family members
ReplyDeleteI thought it was really interesting to see how another culture, one that we've studied, performs its wedding ceremony. I guess I never realized that different cultures might have a completely different way of recognizing the marriage of two people.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the pygmy website was awesome. The graphics and pictures were really neat, but the information was good and interesting as well. It was neat to read about the way in which the pygmies use music in their rituals.
I really liked the wedding video. I thought the drum was a major part of the ceremony and song. I am actually doing my paper on the Greek wedding, so it is really neat to see the different cultures and how they celebrate the wedding sacrament.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I've seen an authentic African wedding; thankyou for posting it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for also posting the boys and the water drums. Water changes the timbre of many instruments... you should hear my cell phone.