| Themes > Arts > Music > Musical Instruments > Musical Instruments of Africa > Wooden Trumpet | |
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use of wooden trumpets by the Banda people is closely linked to the ancestor
cult and adolescent initiation rites. These traditional ensembles, now
becoming few and far between, are also in demand for entertainment at
official festivals, such as those commemorating the independence of the
country. The orchestra numbers between twelve and twenty instruments of
varying dimensions, each of which produces a single note. The ongo ensemble (heard in the sample above,) is comprised of between eighteen trumpets assembled as follows: six high-pitched trumpets made of antelope horn |
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and side-blown (they sometimes have a finger-hole, whereby grace-notes can be obtained); ten more with a medium register hollowed out of tree roots (these have an end mouth-hole cut aslant, which means they must be played in a transversal position); and two low-pitched instruments, cut out of the trunks of the papaw tree, which are end-blown through a mouth-hole cut straight. Depending on the place and the purpose of each ongo trumpet in the ensemble, it plays its note at a set pitch to a rhythmic pattern defined within a very precise metrical framework. The very close interlocking of the individual trumpets within that framework, performed in quick tempo, creates a "broken" polyphonic effect that calls to mind the style of the mediaeval "hocket." |
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