Middle - Eastern Influences

http://inthegapbetween.free.fr/pierre/GAMBUS_PROJECT/99d_ud_lute_indonesia.pdf MIDDLE - EASTERN INFLUENCES IN INDONESIAN GAMBUS The Gambus lute designation nowadays took an unexplicit acception in the indone sian Having said that, t he local lutery of such oud lute in Malaysia / Indonesia is a subject of amazing archipelago, since the word became synonymous of “ middle east-like lute” there. If the word is diversity, much more than it used to be in the Middle East. certainly rooted in the Yemeni name “Qanbus”, according to the homonymous lute of the Sana’an plateau, for sure, every current Indonesian avatars now embody various designs. Surely, central Java 1. The “middle-eastern” rib construction is nowadays found in Johore, Batu Pahat, and Malaysian Mainland have to be considered separately, since they are more involved in the West-Jawa, East-Sumatra, Brunei and Sabah. In Jawa, such local production used to Globalization from the mid-20 th century…Three main categories of Gambus coexist Malaysia and face mass-import items from Egypt. Indeed, such refined lutery art can be found, and Indonesia: many Javanese makers even reached an industrial capacity. Sometimes, the structure suffered then some dramatical simplifications, such as 1. - Gambus Hijaz, a monoxyle, long necked lute. Now rare and hardly survives reportedly stylized pegboxes, local variant of the rose / soundboard pattern or a cut of the in some remote areas, such as Johor state, Sarawak (near Kuching), Sabah (Semporna, soundbox ribs ( down to 5, instead 13-17 in the middle east). The phenomenon is Papar, Bongawan), Kalimantan ( as the panting lute) and Bengkalis, Penyengat, Indera named “ Gitar arap ” or “ Gitar Gambus ” rather than “ Gambus Hadhramawt ”. Giri, Riau, Jambi, & Medan. 2. In another hand, we observe another obvious influence of the monoxyle 2 - Gambus Hadramawt, a.k.a. « Gambus Johor », an oud -like lute.. This is famous in construction in Indonesia, which was incidentally extended to some local oud -like lutes peninsular Malaysia as the « Gambus Johor », as this is appreciated there still when in some remote area, namely in Medan, South Sulawesi, South Kalimantan, Brunei & performing local avatars of the Ghazal musical performance. This mostly can be found still Sabah. In Brunei and Sabah, such oud -like Gambus locally belong to the ambivalent in Johor state, Brunei, Sabah, Java , Sumatra, Madura, Sulu. family of the Gambus Seludang . 3- Bruneian monoxyle Gambus Seludang is a local crossover design family in Brunei and 3. The modern evolution of the “ orkes gambus ” in the urban area naturally meets Sabah. Though often named “ Gambus Hijaz “ , the bruneian making of “ Seludang feature the microphones, as a widespread solution for public performance. So, little by little, the typical 100% wooden soundboard - unlike the existing Gambus Hijaz and Gambus such flat or flat-boxed, electric oud s are now found anywhere. Hadramawt families. We describe the relevant process in the document named “process_malay_gambus_Vx.pdf. Anyhow the acception of the term « Seludang » highly 4. Another influence of the middle-eastern lutery is very, very marginal. Some very varies between Riau and Brunei - Sabah. few makers in Kalimantan borrowed structure features from the persian setar , the indian sitar or even the traditional kemancheh / biola . Now on the way to extinction in many places, the Gambus Hijaz lute is still (seldom) accompanying Zapin / Jepen dance (Ar. Zafin , a dance genre from Hadhramawt, still widespread in Sawt-like sessions in the Gulf countries) plus some theatrical avatars, such as the Hamdolok , As a musical instrument construction, the “Gitar Gambus ” turned to an amazing exercise of the Zapin Banjar and the Mamanda . Considering that Johore’s Ghazal music now substituted popular lutery, especially in Jawa. In parallele, the variant of the Oud in Kalimantan and Gambus Hijaz lute with oud in continental Malaysia, the relevant regional musical avatars for Zafin Medan can be held as adistinctive and unexpected avatar. & Gambus Hijaz are nowadays Hamdolok (Batu Pahat), Tingkilan (Kutai tribesmen, south Kalimantan), Dana-dana ( Sulawesi), and Panting-Banjar ( south Kalimantan). THE CASE OF THE GAMBUS HADHRAMAWT The name “ Gambus Hadhamawt ” used to hint about the introduction of the middle easter oud in Malaysia. Possibly this name dates back to the late migrations of the Hadhrami in the alam melayu, and marks a distinction between this modern lute and the earlier Yemeni lute – namely “ Gambus Hijaz ” - in there, when we consider this latter name as a distinction between each other. Mixing up the DNA of the yemeni qanbus with the later oud’s Mixing up the DNA of the yemeni qanbus with the later oud’s Panting-Gambus (Banjarmasin, S. Kalimantan). Gambus lute of the Bruneians (Kota Belud, Sabah) Mixing up the DNA of the yemeni qanbus with the later oud’s. Mixing up the DNA of the yemeni qanbus with the later oud’s. Gambus lute in Sintang (W. Kalimantan) Gambus lute in Sintang (Kotawaringin Barat, S. Kalimantan) A MARGINAL INFLUENCE OF THE ”CELLO” CONSTRUCTION GITAR GAMBUS MEETS GITAR Referring to its local name, or biola , the cello was introduced in Indonesia, possibly In the modern music of Indonesia, a variety of gambus lutes are still played. from the time of the early Portuguese settlements, in the 16 th century. Anyhow, the instrument first could not be held as a mainstream one in there, as long as it didn’t sound properly in In one hand, the features of the early constructions, either Gambus Hijaz , or some “foreign” musical genres. In one hand, the traditional viele ( i.e. the previous biola , a Gambus Hadramawt, are subject of a plenty of simplification. Lutery speaking, the pen-like local avatar of the middle-eastern kemancheh ) was still preferred among the “indonesian” pegs are much disputed because of their lack of accuracy, so, the guitar pegs may be fit Malays, and in another hand the instrument hardly matched with the sonorities of the previous instead sometimes. The traditional shapes of the middle-eastern pegbox proved to be difficult music, such as the gong musics and gamelan of the previously “hinduist” area ( Jawa, Bali). to manufacture, comparing to guitar’s or fiddle’s. Musics speaking, the instrument get more attractive with the acculturation of some imported Then the roses and the stylized soundboards are facing a plenty of variants, whan the musical genres, such as Theater Parsi , Abdoel Molok , the dutch variety, the middle-eastern Indonesian lutemakers did experience vintage instruments from the Middle-east! One can Zapin and the later Tarab . For example, the case of such “western” biola in the local music of even observe some drawn frets, when the lute playing doesn’t require any hardware fret. Bima (NTB) is noticeable, as this instrument is now the backbone of the local “ gambo ” music. Possibly this occurred randomly, but the name Gitar Gambus finally justifies the emergence of such crossover instrument, when borrowing so many features of the western guitar... The surviving lutery is the fact of unexpected opportunities in some remote areas, Basically, the gitar gambus is complying less with a technical improvement than the especially when we consider remote areas such as Timur (NTT) and Bima (NTB)… requirements of the mass production. Amazingly, a western-like, but traditional cello lutery art ( biola ) can be observed in some Indeed, demanding lute players can experience some sharper lutery. Middle-eastern remote area of indonesia, such as Bima (Sumbawa), Lombok, Sulawesi and Timur, which imports are still welcome, and some local avatars also meet a proper know-how. possibly dates back to several generations. This traditional lutery and the instrument design adapted with the local conditions, and their standard are now very far from what we observe in . In another hand, one can observe sometimes a later influence of the Gambus the West. In parallele, in the 20 th century, standard fiddles are imported from te West, copied construction on the mainstream guitar lutery. This latter effect is marginal, and we can observe and distributed in the main cities of Java. it at maker Irawan ROBITHAH (Pekanbaru, Riau province), with an obvious borrowing of the oud ’s rose , and a customization of the guitar soundbox. As a lutery art, the cello had also an unexpected influence of the Gambus lute making, when the maker carri-over some typical features of this chordophon in the manufacturing of the gambus lute! About wood-boarded Gambus lute making, see alternate file 1. Mostly, this influence is noticeable in the traditional carving art of the pegbox. So http://inthegapbetween.free.fr/pierre/process_malay_gambus_seludang_wooden_v8.pdf far, we can observe the pattern of the cello pegbox among various traditional lute makers, in Indera Giri (south Riau, Sumatra), North Sulawesi, Lombok and Bima (NTB). Basically, this design is very widespread and this sometimes turns to a very stylized leaf pattern, or a simple disc, or even a hook shape… 2. The influence sometimes hit the soundbox construction itself, namely the technology of the thin soundboard and its related S-shaped outlets. We observe this very seldom, for example in central Kalimantan, south Kalimantan and Sabah. Artist AbdolWahab (Bima, Sumbawa): playing a fiddle-shaped A wide Gambus lute ( Sabah) . Gambo, actually A Gambus lute in Samarinda (E. Kalimantan). Amazing fretted Gambus lute (Sabah) BIBLIOGRAPHY Abdoun, Seifed-Din Shehadeh, « The oud, the king of arabic instruments », ISBN ???? , Arabila production Publ., 100 p., Washington DC(USA) / Irbid (Jordan), 1996. Introduction and playing course. ( i) Ashari, Mohammad, interview, lutemaker. Firdowsi Bazaar, Bandar Qeshm , Hormuzgan, 2007 Hakim, T Lukman, « Ciri Khas Bedeleau Gambus » in Bedeleau.com website , Riau Sumatra, 2012 Hilarian, Larry Francis , « The Gambus lute of the malay World », pH D. , Nanyang Technical University of Singapore, Singapore, 2004. (e) Hilarian, Larry Francis , « The gambus (lutes) of the malay World : its origins and significance in Zapin Music », Nanyang Technical University of Singapore, Singapore, 2005.

Load more