Friday, February 6, 2015

Tribal Vibals

Accolades to my cousin Nathanael for the first MET post of the year! :)


Think of the guitar, six strings, really popular, sounds great, and is used in practically every style of music. Now, think of the sitar, another stringed instrument that is relatively unknown compared to its counterpart. The origin of this instrument is of African descent, there are nearly too many strings to count (much less play!!) and the body is made out of a dry gourd. Finally, the neck of the Sitar is about three and a half feet long. The music-making squash-bellied African-originated device is as much African as the desert is. The purpose of this message is not to talk about another continent, it is to remind everyone to expand their interests, there are great pleasant sounding (what is another word for instrument?!?) instruments out in the world, what is the fun of just playing one?

Okay, so maybe I am going to talk about the African culture a bit... in the Sahara desert, and really all over that huge land mass, there are people groups, and when there are people groups, you better bet some harmony and singing is going to be produced. So, they use dried and hollowed gourds (it does not take much for something to be dry out there) and some local wood, to craft a really beautiful piece of art. Along with the sitar, tribes of this zebra-abounding place use animal skins for drums, teeth for maracas, bones for flutes, and their own hands for the beat.

(End of the message at hand) So, when you pick up your guitar/banjo/mandolin, or a horn or brass device, think about how lucky you are to have any instrument at your avail.

- Nathanael

13 comments:

Christian said...

This one took one day to post, I feel sorry for the other one...

Christian said...

you did not put this under the mandolin category, or music analysis, or banjo?

Christian said...

vibals is not even a word! cool!!

Zoë said...

Yes, oops, true.
That other post? "It was accidentally destroyed maliciously..." ;)
I wasn't sure which categories to use on this one. I can easily add the three you listed.
There are many non-word words that sound neat nonetheless. Did you not know that vibals was one, or are you just shocked that I would leave it in there? ;]

Christian said...

I guess both....

Christian said...

I will blame it on Arica! that is a solution!

Zoë said...

I do believe you meant Africa there... correct? ;)
*A* solution, but not necessarily a *good* solution.

Nathanael said...

you have heard of a sitar right?

Zoë said...

Well, friend Thanael, upon reading your most recent comment I was all set to reply with "but of course, don't you remember us typing about them on the cousin blog a few months ago?" But then I realized that the conversation in consideration had actually been about the balalaika, not the sitar. And then I looked through some cousin blog archives until I found the post in question, and in so doing found that this topic had been introduced and concluded way back in July of 2014. Time does fly with astonishing rapidity.

So, the short answer there was no. :) However (as I did in the case of the balalaika), I skimmed through a Wikipedia article with information on and photos of the instrument and listened to a brief audio sample, and am now as much of an expert in this field as can be expected of one who has given its study all of four minutes.

The Wikipedia article states that the sitar originated in India... :/

Christian said...

you know, when writing the message, I had this eery feeling that I got the country wrong-, but, I am sure there are sitars in Africa anyways, they were just not made and invented there.

Christian said...

I hate the internet...

Zoë said...

Of course, just because something is on the internet does not necessarily make it true. However, in general Wikipedia seems to be a fairly reliable site as an online encyclopedia. At any rate, your point is taken - I also hate finding out that I've gotten something wrong. :)

Out of curiosity, from where did you get your information for this post?

Zoë said...

Nathanael - thank you ever so much for introducing me to this excellent instrument! Truly, I owe you a debt of gratitude!