World Flutelore: Folktales, Myths, and Other Stories of Magical Flute Power
224
World Flutelore: Folktales, Myths, and Other Stories of Magical Flute Power
224eBook
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Overview
Describing and interpreting many examples of flutes as they are found in mythology, poetry, lyrics, and other narrative and literary sources from around the world, veteran ethnomusicologist Dale Olsen seeks to determine what is singularly distinct or unique about flutes, flute playing, and flute players in a global context. He shows how and why flutes are important for personal, communal, religious, spiritual, and secular expression and even, perhaps, existence. This is a book for students, scholars, and any reader interested in the cultural power of flutes.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780252095146 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Illinois Press |
| Publication date: | 11/30/2013 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 224 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
World Flutelore
Folktales, Myths, and Other Stories of Magical Flute Power
By Dale A. Olsen
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
Copyright © 2013 Board of Trustees of the University of IllinoisAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-252-09514-6
CHAPTER 1
Flute Types and Stereotypes
It is not known if Raman's flutes were horizontally, diagonally, or vertically held when played, cross-blown or end-blown, ducted or ductless. Because there is an innumerable amount of flute types in the world, as explained in the prelude to this book, there is also an inestimable amount of oral and written literature that mentions flutes. Often, however, specific flute types are not distinguished in folklore, and sometimes flutes are just called "pipes" (see chapter 11), oboes are called "flutes," trumpets are called "flutes," flutes are called "trumpets," and so on. For those reasons of ambiguity, it is important to discuss how flutes are classified in music scholarship.
Flute Classification
What exactly is a flute? A flute is an edge-type aerophone, meaning it is any instrument whose sound is produced by an aspirated stream of air—in flutelore, the players include humans, animals, spirits, and other entities—that strikes a sharp edge, creating audible sound waves. The histories and traditions of music throughout the world include many ways to classify musical instruments, and ethnomusicologist Margaret Kartomi has discussed and compared most of them.
For purposes of world flutelore, I delineate seven categories for aspirated edge-type aerophones, which I refer to as "Olsen categories" in this book.
1. Vertical/diagonal tubular flute with ductless, rimmed mouthpiece. Single-tubed (open distal end); ductless (open proximal end or open end extension made from a different material than the tube; rimmed; the player focuses the air stream directly upon the sound-producing, rimmed edge or an extension of the rimmed edge that is made from a different material than the tube), vertically or diagonally held when played, end-blown, with finger holes. Some examples are the Arabic nai (see figure 1), Bulgarian kaval, Ethiopian washint, Hopi flute, Persian nay, and Turkish ney.
2. Vertical tubular flute with ductless notched mouthpiece. Single-tubed (open distal end), ductless (with a notch for a mouthpiece; the player focuses the air stream directly upon the sound-producing edge in the shape of a notch), vertically or diagonally held, end-blown, with finger holes. Some examples are the Bolivian and Peruvian kena (quena), Chinese xiao (hsiao), Ghanaian odurugya, Japanese shakuhachi (see fig. 2), Q'ero pinkuyllu, and Vietnamese tieu, and Warao muhusemoi (see chapter 2, figure 9).
3. Vertical, diagonal, or horizontal tubular flute with duct mouthpiece. Single- (also double-, triple-, quadruple-, or more) tubed (open distal end), duct (with a fipple, beak, ring, or external baffle type mouthpiece apparatus that channels the player's air to the sound-producing edge), vertically (i.e., recorder), diagonally held (i.e., Irish pennywhistle on occasion), horizontally (Bolivian muhuseño and Slovakian fujara; with attached bocal or air tube), end-blown, with finger holes—some examples are the Bolivian, Ecuadoran, and Peruvian pinkullo (and variant spellings), the Bolivian saripalka (see chapter 7, figure 15), Bolivian tarka (see chapter 7, figure 16), European recorder, Indonesian suling, Irish pennywhistle, and Native American courting flutes (see chapter 5, figures 13 and 14).
4. Transverse tubular flute with ductless single-hole cross-blown mouthpiece. Single-tubed (open distal end, although some variants are closed), ductless (with a mouthpiece that is a single hole that is either round, oval, square, or rectangular in shape; the player focuses the air stream from the mouth or nose directly upon the sound-producing edge of the hole), horizontally or slightly diagonally held (often varies during a performance), cross-blown, with finger holes. Some examples are the Brazilian pífano, Chinese dizi, European-derived orchestral flute, Indian bansuri, Hawaiian 'ohe hano ihu, and Vietnamese sao (see figure 3).
5. Vertical multiple-tubular flute with ductless rimmed mouthpieces (panpipe type). Multiple-tubed (closed distal ends, joined or held together in a raft or bundle shape), ductless (open proximal ends only, no notches; the player focuses the air stream directly upon the sound-producing edge or edges), without finger holes. Panpipes can be either single unit or double unit. A single-unit panpipe consists of a series of tubes of diverse materials that are rafted or bundled, carved, or molded (see figure 4) together to form a single whole that is capable of producing a complete melody when played by a single player—some examples are the Chinese pai xiao, Ecuadoran rondador, Peruvian antara, and Romanian nai. A double-unit panpipe consists of two halves, each half traditionally played by a separate individual, requiring two persons to play the whole, the two halves considered to be one instrument. Some examples are the siku among the Aymara in Bolivia and Peru, and the julajula in Bolivia (see chapter 14, figure 21).
6. Globular or vessel flute with ductless, single-hole, cross-blown mouthpiece (ocarina type 1). Single-chambered vessel, ductless (with a cross-blown, single-hole mouthpiece apparatus), with or without finger holes, similar to many pre-Columbian ceramic instruments, especially among the Moche of ancient Peru (see conclusion, figure 22), the Italian ocarina, and the Chinese xun or hsun.
7. Globular or vessel flute with duct mouthpiece (ocarina type 2). Single-, double-, or triple-chambered vessel, duct (with a fipple mouthpiece apparatus), with or without finger holes (the latter instrument is often called a "whistle" in the literature)—many exemplars are from ancient and modern cultures throughout western South America (see figure 5), Central America, Mesoamerican, Europe, and Vietnam.
There are always exceptions to these categories. For example, in Aiquina, in northern Chile, I saw small, transverse, cross-blown flutes (Olsen category 4) fitted with small mouthpiece ducts used by flutists during a religious folk festival in 1968 (see figure 6). Each flutist blew into a detachable duct that enabled his air to be focused against the edge of the flute's embouchure hole. These duct additions make the instruments easier to play for musicians who are unable to make the correct flute embouchure with their lips. I have also seen ancient Roman statues in Florence, Italy, of musicians playing panpipes (Olsen category 5) made with fipple mouthpieces for each tube. After the Meiji Restoration (1868) in Japan, when Western culture was introduced, Japanese-Western musical instrument hybrids developed, such as the okuraulos, a combination of a shakuhachi headjoint with a notched mouthpiece and a Western silver flute body. The instrument received its name from its inventor, Okura Kishichiro (1882–1963), and aulós, an ancient Greek aerophone (which was actually an oboe rather than a flute). Today, bamboo shakuhachi headjoints can be purchased over the Internet that are made to fit onto Western silver flute bodies. Undoubtedly, other types of flute mouthpiece anomalies and combinations can be found throughout the world.
Throughout this book, when identifying flutes, I most often simply use the terms "flute," "ocarina," or "panpipe," along with the Olsen category number when known. If a specific type of flute is mentioned in a story, I refer to its type along with the Olsen category number. Moreover, when vernacular or indigenous names are given, I use them along with Olsen category numbers. In the vast body of flutelore, however, especially when stories are translated into English, neither details of flute type nor indigenous names are commonly provided.
Flute Types: Their Uses, Functions, and Musical Occasions
Why are there so many different types of flutes around the world? Does one type of flute have more significance than another? Is one more powerful or magical than another? Often, this type of knowledge is not known, mostly because such questions are rarely asked of world flutists. One researcher (who was also a flutist), Muriel Percy Brown, however, apparently asked those questions while living in the Himalayas in the early 1920s. She wrote the following in 1922 about three types of flutes—lingbufeniam, lingbunemia, and tolling—among the Lepchas in Sikkim, who have "an astonishing amount of folk-lore ... connected with [their flutes]":
The oldest is the lingbufeniam, which is in fact the original form of the hill-flute. It is cut out of a long, thick piece of bamboo, closed at one end, and has four holes and a mouthpiece. It is handed down from father to son as a treasured family possession and is naturally regarded as the special instrument of the patriarch of the family. He sometimes carves designs on the well-seasoned, polished bamboo, which assumes a rich red tint with age. This flute gives forth sonorous notes that sound like wind in the reeds. It is played sideways, with the head of the performer turned over his shoulder and his arms well extended. It has the property of being able to protect him on a journey in wild, unknown parts of the forest, where nature-spirits have full sway; for these spirits greatly fear to see anybody playing an instrument from which his head is actually turned, and they remain at a respectful distance from a man so accomplished that he can breathe out those deep notes without even looking at his flute. I have wondered whether the resemblance to the well-known figure of the holy Krishna fluting in this attitude is not the origin of this belief; for his influence undoubtedly spread throughout the whole of India, though animistic Buddhism, and not Hinduism, is the religion of these hill-tribes.
The lingbunemia is a small, double flute with an orifice on each side. The two pieces of bamboo, joined by wax or putty, have each six holes. The instrument is difficult to make, since the reeds [i.e., the tubes] must exactly match in tone, and it is not easy to find two pieces quite similar. There is also a single lingbunemia, made in the same way, with an orifice at the side but, in this case, cut under a knot in the bamboo. The lingbunemia is specially dedicated to purposes of worship, and in olden days it was part of the religious duty of Lepcha householders to arise at earliest dawn and play a gid [?—perhaps a frivolous tune] on the lingbunemia, and to play another at night before sleeping. One admires the sense of beauty and fitness thus displayed by the musical Lepchas, in playing their tender, warbling melodies at times when nature is hushed and at rest.
The lingbunemia, be it known, is appreciated by all water-spirits. When one has traveled a good deal in Sikkim, one realizes how great a part the numerous mountain torrents and waterfalls must play in the life of the hill-folk. A fearsome part it must have been, too, in the days, not so long ago, when no roads or bridges existed except the slender, swaying bamboo bridge suspended across the foaming stream, and capricious elementals of curious shapes and forms, originating no doubt in contorted rocks and gnarled roots of trees, were sometimes half-seen beneath the rushing water. One exquisite lake in Sikkim, nestling under the Nattoo Pass, was the home in the olden days, before the advent of the English, of a particularly awe-inspiring water-spirit, who would cause the surface of the lake to shake to and fro and then to rise in a high column and, falling over on any unwary traveler, suck him into its translucent depths. Indeed, I have never seen any spot more suited, by the wild desolation of its environment, to be the home of such a being—black, rocky cliffs going sheer into the turquoise-green water, and at the farther end an enormous foaming waterfall pouring over into abysmal depths. What a comfort to the poor, terrified Lepcha to feel that he can soothe the water-spirits by means of his beloved flute, and, playing on the banks of the stream, be granted a safe passage over the frail bamboo bridge and return unharmed to his tiny leaf hut in the forest! If he is not musician enough to do this, a lama from the nearest gompa, or monastery, may be induced by presents of eggs and rice to sit and play for him by the banks of the treacherous lake or brawling torrent. Maidens, too, when going to bathe, exorcise the wicked water-spirits by playing on the lingbunemia before they immerse themselves in the limpid pool....
Tolling, the third Lepcha flute, is a long, slender reed half-way between the lingbufeniam and the lingbunemia in size and, like the former, with only four holes. It is played straight and not sideways, and perhaps owing to this fact and for the further reason that it is easier to play on than the lingbufeniam, nature-spirits have no respect for the man who plays it but laugh and gibe at him—which is the more heartless since he is usually a disconsolate bachelor or a person in grief. At one o'clock in the afternoon, an hour when naturespirits are inclined to listen to the traveler's flutings, they will sometimes come and tease those who relieve their sorrowful feelings by playing the tolling. It possesses no beneficial powers, and, though harmless in itself, tells much on the health and prosperity of the performer. Any illness or misfortune that may come to him is of course attributed to his unfortunate choice of instrument. The sound produced is certainly very plaintive, somewhat like a musical sigh. To the Lepcha it is a genuine expression of grief. The tolling in my possession belonged to a man who said it had remained untouched in his house since his parent's death, because playing on it aroused memories too keenly painful.
Brown's descriptions are of great value for understanding Sikkim flutes, and rarely do anthropologists, ethnomusicologists, missionaries, tourists, travelers, or other chroniclers write about the cultural significance of particular flute types. We learn from Brown's discourse that the Lepchas in Sikkim have several types of flutes and that each type has a particular function in Lepcha culture. The lingbufeniam, for example, is a ductless transverse tubular flute (Olsen category 4) of great supernatural power. Most noteworthy for an understanding of that power, and perhaps by analogy other transverse flutes throughout the world, is her statement about how the "spirits greatly fear to see anybody playing an instrument from which his head is turned." This information obviously comes from the Lepchas themselves and speaks highly of Brown's careful ethnographic field research. The lingbunemia, as she explains, is a single- or double-tubed duct tubular flute (Olsen category 3) that also has significant power, especially to soothe the water spirits, although she doesn't explain how that happens. The tolling, by contrast, is not sufficiently described by Brown to be categorized.
In spite of Brown's excellent descriptions and those of other researchers included in this book, every world culture is unique, and specific and/or detailed knowledge about world flutes as gleaned from folklore, mythology, poetry, and other stories of magic and power and even descriptions and interpretations from anthropology and ethnomusicology, is somewhat limited. Nevertheless, in the current volume, I attempt to bring many of the cultural data about world flutes together, always cognizant of the fact that particular flute types are often not described in the stories themselves.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from World Flutelore by Dale A. Olsen. Copyright © 2013 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS.
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