by Dr. Klara Hrvatin, Department of Asian Studies, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Image copyright © Slovene Ethnographic Museum

Museum: The Slovene Ethnographic Museum (photo Blaž Verbič)

Inventory No.: Figure 1: 244 MG, Figure 2: 243 MG, Figure 3: 239 MG, Figure 4: 245 MG, Figure 5: 242 MG, Figure 6: 236 MG (Figures are labelled from left to right, from top to bottom.)

Name: Pigeon whistles

Author: Unknown

Place of Execution: China

Dating: 19th century

Material: gourd, bamboo, ivory

Dimensions (cm): height: 4-6; width: 4-5; length: 4-6 cm

The pigeon whistle, known in China as geling 鴿鈴 or geshao 鴿哨, is a small musical instrument belonging to the group of so-called Aeolian musical instruments. The whistle is attached to the tail of the pigeon so that it produces a sound when it flies. The flute is made of light materials such as gourd and bamboo and varnished. The makers enrich their image with engraved patterns and ivory ornaments. In China, the pigeon whistle has been used at least since the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), but it is also common in other Asian regions, such as Indonesia and Japan. In the past, the sound of the pigeon whistles, also known as “heavenly music”, presented a distinctive sound of Beijing.

The Slovene Ethnographic Museum holds a collection of 14 pigeon whistles. They are part of a larger collection of intendant Ivan Skušek Jr. (1877–1947), comprised of various objects such as paintings, statues, porcelain vessels, clothes, shoes, musical instruments, games, books, albums, photographs, coins, garden ceramics, furniture, and much more. As a special feature of the collection, Chinese instruments can be labelled as a rare and most extensive collection in Slovenia, including pigeon whistles.

The examples shown above present the three most common types of pigeon whistles found in the collection; the gourd type (Figure 3, 5, and 6), the tubular type (Figure 2) and the combined type (Figure 1 and 4). Among all these types, the gourd type is the most common representative – a type of pigeon whistle that has a carved gourd as its base to which bamboo sub-whistles are attached. The largest number of them is represented by small-sized pigeon whistles, with three sub-whistles and flower patterns in black on red or yellow (Figure 6).

Also more numerous are specimens of a combined type of pigeon whistles – the type with a gourd body in the middle, also called “star belly”, with a narrow tube attached to the front and a larger and wider tube attached to the back. In the photos you can see the representative of the “seven-star whistle” (Figure 4) and the “eleven-eye whistle” (Figure 1), which are similar in appearance. The former has a green lacquered gourd while the latter a dark red gourd; all other parts are unlacquered. In contrast to the abundance of gourd and combined type of pigeon whistles in the Skušek collection, there is only one example of the tubular type (Figure 2), which is characterised by clean lines, an overall construction of bamboo in natural colour, and a pure tone, with the shorter tube tuned higher than the longer tube.

Each type of pigeon whistle has its own distinctive sound. In a common arrangement, the gourd type of pigeon whistle would represent a bass tone, the tubular type would represent a soprano (a shorter pipe) and an alto (a longer pipe), while the combined type can produce tones of different pitch simply by virtue of its structure. The pigeon whistle is also distinguished by its special character – a carved Chinese character engraved on the back of the whistle. Although most of the pigeon whistles from the Skušek collection have engraved characters, they cannot be attributed to the major makers, i.e. the eight famous pigeon whistle makers.

Bibliography and useful links:

Hrvatin, Klara. Golobje piščali iz Skuškove zbirke Slovenskega etnografskega muzeja (Pigeon whistles from the Skušek collection of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum). Bulletin of the Slovene Ethnological Society 60, no. 1 (2020): 42-55.

Golobje piščali v Skuškovi zbirki (Pigeon Whistles in the Skušek Collection). VAZ; https://vazcollections.si/golobje-piscali-v-skuskovi-zbirki/, 22.1.2023.

Wang, Shixiang. Beijing Pigeon Whistles. Peking: Liaoning Education Press, 1999.

Wang, Shixiang. Tradition and Innovation: On Pigeon Whistles. In: Iftikhar Dadi (ur.), The Future is Handmade: The Survival and Innovation of Crafts. Prince Claus Fund Journal 10a (special issue), 2003, 14–30.

Hoose, Harned Pettus. Peking Pigeons and Pigeon-flutes. Peking: College of Chinese Studies, California College in China, 1938.

Laufer, Berthold. Chinese Pigeon Whistles. Scientific American 98/22, 1908, 394; https://www.jstor.org/ stable/10.2307/26018442, 4. 1. 2020.

China Today, The Pigeon Whistle: A Defining Sound of Old Beijing (documentary film), 27. 11. 2019; https://www.facebook.com/chinatoday1952/videos/2377966232444442, 23. 1. 2023.

The Beijing Pigeon Whistle – and Pigeon training tips / More China, 1.2.2018; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i5xtadHPRA&ab_channel= =更中国MoreChina, 22.1.2023.

Trending China, Colin Siyuan Chinnery. Recording New and Old Sounds of Beijing, 2. 3. 2019; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5EB73v1k9M&ab_channel=2MMediaGroup, 22. 1. 2023.

Muzej: Slovenski etnografski muzej (foto Blaž Verbič)

Inventarna št.: Slika 1: 244 MG, Slika 2: 243 MG, Slika 3: 239 MG, Slika 4: 245 MG, Slika 5: 242 MG, Slika 6: 236 MG (Slike so označene od leve proti desni, od zgoraj navzdol)

Ime: Golobje piščali

Avtor: Neznan

Kraj: Kitajska

Datacija: 19. stoletje

Material: buča, bambus, slonovina

Mere (v cm): višina: 4-6; širina: 4-5; dolžina: 4-6

Golobja piščal, na Kitajskem znana kot geling 鴿鈴 ali geshao 鴿哨, je majhno glasbilo, ki spada v skupino tako imenovanih eolskih glasbenih instrumentov. Piščalka je pritrjena na rep goloba, tako da oddaja zvok, ko golob leti. Izdelana je iz lahkih materialov, kot sta buča in bambus, ter lakirana. Izdelovalci njeno podobo večkrat obogatijo z graviranimi vzorci in okrasi iz slonovine. Na Kitajskem se golobja piščal uporablja vsaj od začetka dinastije Qing (1644–1912), vendar je pogosta tudi v drugih azijskih območjih, kot sta Indonezija in Japonska. V preteklosti je bil zvok golobjih piščali, znan tudi kot »nebeška glasba«, prepoznaven zvok Pekinga.

Slovenski etnografski muzej hrani zbirko 14 golobjih piščali. So del večje zbirke intendanta Ivana Skuška ml. (1877–1947), ki jo sestavljajo različni predmeti, kot so slike, kipi, porcelan, oblačila, glasbila, igre, knjige, albumi, fotografije, kovanci, vrtne keramične garniture, pohištvo itn. Kot posebnost zbirke lahko kot redko in najobsežnejšo zbirko na slovenskih tleh označimo tudi kitajska glasbila, vključno z golobjimi piščali.

Zgoraj prikazani primeri predstavljajo tri najpogostejše vrste golobjih piščali, ki jih najdemo v zbirki: bučni tip (Slike 3, 5 in 6), cevni tip (Slika 2) in kombinirani tip (Sliki 1 in 4). Najpogostejši predstavnik je bučni tip – vrsta golobje piščali, ki ima za osnovo izrezljano bučo, na katero so pritrjene bambusove pomožne piščali ali podpiščali. Najštevilčnejši so primerki bučnega tipa golobjih piščali manjšega formata s tremi podpiščalmi in cvetličnimi vzorci v črni barvi na rdeči ali rumeni podlagi (Slika 6).

Številčnejši so tudi primerki kombiniranega tipa golobjih piščali – tip z bučnim telesom v sredini, imenovan tudi zvezdni trebuh, z od spredaj pritrjeno ozko cevjo, zadaj pa z večjo in s širšo cevjo. Na fotografijah lahko vidimo predstavnika golobje piščalisedmih zvezd (Slika 4) in golobje piščalienajstih oči(Slika 1), ki sta si na videz podobna. Prvi ima zeleno lakirano bučo, drugi pa temno rdečo bučo; vsi ostali deli so nelakirani. V nasprotju s številčnostjo piščali bučnega in kombiniranega tipa je v Skuškovi zbirki le en primer cevnega tipa, t.i. dvocevni tip, ki ga odlikujejo čiste linije in celotna izdelava iz bambusa v naravni barvi.

Vsak tip golobje piščali ima svoj značilni zvok. Če si jih zamislimo v skupni postavitvi, bi predstavljal bučni tip golobjih piščali basovski ton, cevni tip sopranski (krajša cev) in altovski (daljša cev), kombinirani tip pa že sam po sebi vsebuje vse omenjene tone. Golobje piščali odlikuje tudi posebna oznaka – vgravirana kitajska pismenka na zadnji strani piščali. Čeprav so na večini golobjih piščali iz Skuškove zbirke vrezane oznake, ki bi lahko služile kot logotip izdelovalcev, pa teh ne moremo uvrstiti med osem glavnih izdelovalcev golobjih piščali.

Bibliografija

Hrvatin, Klara. Golobje piščali iz Skuškove zbirke Slovenskega etnografskega muzeja. Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva 60, št. 1 (2020): 42-55.

Golobje piščali v Skuškovi zbirki. VAZ; https://vazcollections.si/golobje-piscali-v-skuskovi-zbirki/, 22.1.2023.

Wang, Shixiang. Beijing Pigeon Whistles. Peking: Liaoning Education Press, 1999.

Wang, Shixiang. Tradition and Innovation: On Pigeon Whistles. V: Iftikhar Dadi (ur.), The Future is Handmade: The Survival and Innovation of Crafts. Prince Claus Fund Journal 10a (special issue), 2003, 14–30.

Hoose, Harned Pettus. Peking Pigeons and Pigeon-flutes. Peking: College of Chinese Studies, California College in China, 1938.

Laufer, Berthold. Chinese Pigeon Whistles. Scientific American 98/22, 1908, 394; https://www.jstor.org/ stable/10.2307/26018442, 4. 1. 2020.

China Today, The Pigeon Whistle: A Defining Sound of Old Beijing (dokumentarni film), 27. 11. 2019; https://www.facebook.com/chinatoday1952/videos/2377966232444442, 23. 1. 2023.

The Beijing Pigeon Whistle – and Pigeon training tips / More China, 1.2.2018; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i5xtadHPRA&ab_channel= =更中国MoreChina, 22.1.2023.

Trending China, Colin Siyuan Chinnery. Recording New and Old Sounds of Beijing, 2. 3. 2019; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5EB73v1k9M&ab_channel=2MMediaGroup, 22. 1. 2023.

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By Maria Szymańska-Ilnata

The rabab pasisir is part of the collection of musical instruments and is displayed at the permanent exhibition “The Sound Zone” at the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw. It was made by Dalimus Arip in 1985 ca. and used by him until 2015 when it was bought by the curator of the musical instruments collection at the Asia and Pacific Museum during her field research conducted in West Sumatra. Rabab pasisir or biola comes from the region of Pesisir, but has spread to other regions of West Sumatra. The name “biola” refers to the shape of the instrument which resembles the European violin. It is very likely that the violin was brought to Sumatra by the Portuguese who were the first Europeans in that region, and was later adapted by local people to their traditional music. Confirmation of this view of the instrument’s history exists also in the Sumatran classification of instruments which situates rabab pasisir in the category called “asal Barat”, namely “coming from the West”¹. It shows the Minangkabau people’s awareness of the origin of this instrument which is called now “traditional”. Rabab pasisir has the shape of a violin but differs in proportions and materials. Almost each rabab pasisir maker introduces his own special feature; for example, some of the instruments are very slim and others more rounded. Coconut is used to make the bridge while buffalo horn is used for the tailpiece. Rabab pasisir has four strings, although only three of them are used. As many musicians and rabab pasisir makers claim, the fourth string is necessary for the “balance”, and cannot be removed although is not necessary for playing.

1 Margaret J. Kartomi, On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990): 225.

Even though the rabab’s shape and construction is reminiscent of those of a European violin, its playing technique is completely different. The player sits with his legs crossed, holding the rabab in a vertical position, propping it against the floor or his foot. The rabab displayed sports a dark stain at the back of the sound box, which – according to the maker and owner of the instrument – marks the place where an opening for inserting the sound post used to be. The opening was filled with excrements of a special kind of forest ants. Inside the sound box there is a little piece of silver paper, folded into a cube (most probably a cigarette package of some sort), on which a magic spell is written, according to the musician.

The rabab is used to provide accompaniment for epical narratives called kaba (earlier tradition) and songs. It is played solo or together with a drum, most often the single-skin rabana, usually to accompany singing.

The Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instruments classification:

3 CHORDOPHONES / 32 Composite chordophones / 321 Lutes / 321.3 Handle lutes / 321.31 Spike lutes / 321.312-7 Spike box lutes or spike guitars sounded by bowing

Bibliography:

Eny Christyawaty i Maryetti. Pemain rabab pasisia: dari pengabdian seni ke profesi. Studi kasus 5 orang rabab pasisia di Pesisir Selatan Sumatera Barat. Padang: Balai Kajian Sejarah dan Nilai Tradisional, 2005.

Erizal. Instrumen musik chordophone Minangkabau. Padang Panjang: Akademi Seni Karawitan Indonesia, 1995.

Hajizar i Muhammad Hidayat Rahz. Tradisi pertunjukan rabab Minangkabau. Bandung, Indonesia: Masyarakat Seni Pertunjukan Indonesia, 1998.

Hartitom. Rabab pasisia dalam lagu Sikambang aia aji ditinjau dari aspek musikologis: studi kusus di kecamatan Lengayang, kabupaten Pesisir Selatan. Padang: Istitut Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, 1998.

Kartomi, Margaret J. Musical Journeys in Sumatra. University of Illinois Press, 2012.

———. On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

https://folkways.si.edu/music-of-indonesia-vol-6-night-music-of-west-sumatra/islamica-world/album/smithsonian

Muzeum: Muzeum Azji i Pacyfiku im. Andrzeja Wawrzyniaka w Warszawie

Numer inwentarza: MAP 20804

Nazwa: Lutnia rabab pasisir

Autor: Dalimus Arip (1951-)

Miejsca pozyskania: Indonezja, Zachodnia Sumatra, Sawahlunto

Datowanie: ok. 1985

Tworzywa: drewno, kokos, metal, sznurek, odchody mrówek, drut

Wymiary: instrument: wys. 64, szer. 18, gł. 10, smyczek: wys. 64, szer. 8, gł. 1,5

Rabab pasisir należy do kolekcji instrumentów muzycznych i jest prezentowany na stałej wystawie „Strefa dźwięków” w Muzeum Azji i Pacyfiku w Warszawie. Został wykonany przez Dalimusa Aripa ok. 1985 r. i był przez niego używany do 2015 r., kiedy zakupiła go do muzealnej kolekcji instrumentów muzycznych Muzeum Azji i Pacyfiku jej kuratorka podczas badań terenowych prowadzonych na Sumatrze Zachodniej. Rabab pasisir, zwany też biolą pochodzi z regionu Pesisir, ale jest popularny także w innych regionach Zachodniej Sumatry. Nazwa „biola” odnosi się do kształtu instrumentu, który przypomina europejskie skrzypce. Prawdopodobnie skrzypce zostały przywiezione na Sumatrę przez Portugalczyków, którzy dotarli tam jako pierwsi Europejczycy, a następnie zostały zaadaptowane przez lokalnych mieszkańców do ich tradycyjnej muzyki. Potwierdzeniem tej tezy jest także miejsce instrumentu w tradycyjnej klasyfikacji instrumentów muzycznych z Sumatry, zgodnie z którą rabab pasisir należy do kategorii „asal Barat”, czyli „pochodzących z Zachodu”¹. Wskazuje to na świadomość ludzi Minangkabau dotyczącą pochodzenia instrumentu, który obecnie określany jest mianem tradycyjnego. Rabab pasisir ma kształt skrzypiec, ale różni się od nich proporcjami i materiałami, z jakich jest wykonany. Prawie każdy budowniczy rababów wprowadza własne modyfikacje, na przykład niektóre rababy są bardzo wąskie, a inne zaokrąglone. Łupina orzecha kokosowego jest używana do wytwarzania mostka, a róg bawoli strunnika. Rabab pasisir ma cztery struny, mimo, że używane są tylko trzy z nich. Jak deklaruje wielu muzyków i budowniczych rababów, czwarta struna jest niezbędna do zachowania „równowagi” i nie może zostać zdjęta, choć nie jest potrzebna do grania.

Pomimo tego, że kształt i konstrukcja rababów bardzo przypomina europejskie skrzypce, technika gry na nich jest zupełnie inna. Muzyk siedzi ze skrzyżowanymi nogami, trzyma instrument pionowo i opiera o podłogę lub swoją stopę. Prezentowany rabab ma na tylnej płycie rezonansowej ciemną plamę, która – zgodnie z deklaracją budowniczego i właściciela instrumentu – zasłania otwór, przez który włożona była dusza. Otwór ten zaklejony zostały odchodami specjalnego rodzaju leśnych mrówek. Wewnątrz pudła rezonansowego znajduje się także złożony w kostkę mały kawałek srebrnego papieru (prawdopodobnie pochodzący z opakowania po papierosach), na którym – według muzyka – zapisane jest magiczne zaklęcie.

Na rababie wykonuje się akompaniament do epickich pieśni zwanych kaba (starsza tradycja) oraz piosenek. Akompaniując do śpiewu gra się na nim solo lub z towarzyszeniem bębna, najczęściej jednomembranowego, zwanego rabana.

W klasyfikacji Sachsa- Hornbostela:

3 CHORDOFONY / 32 Chordofony złożone / 321 Lutnie / 321.3 Lutnie drzewcowe / 321.31 Lutnie z drzewcem przelotowym / 321.312-7 Skrzynkowe lutnie lub gitary z drzewcem przelotowym pobudzane smyczkowaniem

Bibliografia:

Eny Christyawaty i Maryetti. Pemain rabab pasisia: dari pengabdian seni ke profesi. Studi kasus 5 orang rabab pasisia di Pesisir Selatan Sumatera Barat. Padang: Balai Kajian Sejarah dan Nilai Tradisional, 2005.

Erizal. Instrumen musik chordophone Minangkabau. Padang Panjang: Akademi Seni Karawitan Indonesia, 1995.

Hajizar i Muhammad Hidayat Rahz. Tradisi pertunjukan rabab Minangkabau. Bandung, Indonesia: Masyarakat Seni Pertunjukan Indonesia, 1998.

Hartitom. Rabab pasisia dalam lagu Sikambang aia aji ditinjau dari aspek musikologis: studi kusus di kecamatan Lengayang, kabupaten Pesisir Selatan. Padang: Istitut Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, 1998.

Kartomi, Margaret J. Musical Journeys in Sumatra. University of Illinois Press, 2012.

———. On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

https://folkways.si.edu/music-of-indonesia-vol-6-night-music-of-west-sumatra/islamica-world/album/smithsonian

1 Margaret J. Kartomi, On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990): 225

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