Curiosities of Music: A Collection of Facts not generally known, regarding the Music of Ancient and Savage NationsElson, Louis Charles
History
Curiosities of Music: A Collection of Facts not generally known, regarding the Music of Ancient and Savage Nations
Elson, Louis Charles
Music -- History and criticism
Although the resources of this instrument are so extremely limited, the
musicians of this people are content to sit for hours, listening to its
monotonous sound.
Let us now turn to the degraded black brother of the foregoing race, the
Bushman. His amusements are two;—singing and dancing.
The dance of the Bushman is to European eyes a most uninteresting one;
as there is scarcely any motion or gesture at all in it, save that which
is made by _one leg_. Standing on one foot, the performer shakes the
other, (to which a string of rattles, made from the ears of the
spring-bok are attached) occasionally giving his body a twist, and
singing vigorously all the while, changing the foot, however, from time
to time.
The spectators keep the rhythm by a constant and regular clapping of
hands and a monotonous singing.
A water-drum, which is merely a wooden bowl, into which a little water
has been poured, and over which a skin is tightly drawn, is struck
regularly in time with the movements of the dancer; the latter when
partially exhausted, falls upon the floor, but still singing and kicking
in time with the music; after a short rest of this description, he jumps
up and continues as at first. When utterly exhausted, he retires among
the spectators and unfastening his leg-rattles, hands them to the next
dancer. The music to this odd performance is _not_ in unison; the dancer
sings one air, the spectators another, and the drum gives a species of
“ground bass” to the whole.
While engaged in this interesting occupation of shaking one leg, the
Bushman is completely oblivious of all other considerations, as if he
were entranced. Discordant as the music seems to us when annotated by
the travellers who have heard it, yet these same authorities are almost
unanimous in declaring that the effect is extremely pleasant.
The most peculiar instrument of the Bushmen, is the _goura_, which is
shaped like a bow, but has at one end of the string, a piece of quill
inserted; this quill is blown upon in the same manner that we use a
jew’s-harp. Women play upon this instrument, but hold it
perpendicularly, and do not breathe upon it, but strike it with a stick,
and then catch it up, quickly to their ear, to listen to the tones. When
thus played, it is called, a _joum-joum_.
All the airs played upon this primitive instrument seem to come by
chance rather than skill, and the performer never seems able to play the
same tune twice. But the same or better music could be drawn from a much
more compact and portable instrument; therefore the _goura_ has now been
almost superseded by a European competitor, and the favorite instrument
of the African Bosjesman now is the _Jew’s-harp_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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