Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all ate as much as you could, then found room for dessert. Nothing beats good friends, family, and good food!
To mark this passing from summer into autumn, we’re going to take a break from the usual tips, tricks, and benefits to take a look at the humble gourd. It may or may not have been on your table for the family meal, but probably as a centerpiece rather than one of the courses. But humans have been using gourds in a different way for a very long time. A way that would make sense for a blog devoted to music to mention! Yup, you guessed it, gourds have been used to make musical instruments for almost all of human history, all across the globe. In this special Thanksgiving week blog, we’re going to talk about some of the more unique gourd-based instruments the world has to offer.
Rattles
The most common instrument made from gourds found the world over is undoubtedly the rattle. Maracas in Latin America. First Nations’ ceremonial rattles. West African shekeres. Cuban chekeres. Each of these gourd rattles are a little different, but remarkably similar. In every case the gourd was left to dry out over the course of several months. Once dry, the pulp and seeds inside were scrapped out. It was only after this process was done, and the inside scrubbed clean, did the different cultures diverge on just how they would make the hollow vessel rattle. When making maracas, for example, the dried seeds from the inside of the gourd are put back in once the pulp has been removed. It’s the seeds that make the rattling noise. However, for the West African shekere, rather than put anything inside the gourd to produce sound, seeds or beads are woven into a web-like network of cables. This web is then wrapped around and fastened to the outside of the dried gourd. The sound is made when the beads make contact with the outside of the gourd it is shaken or hit.
Kamancheh
An ancient, Iranian stringed instrument, the kamancheh is sometimes called a “spiked fiddle” or “gourd fiddle.” Traditional versions of this instrument had 3 silk strings (modern versions use four metal strings), a long upper neck, and a lower bowl-shaped resonating chamber made from wood, or (you guessed it) a gourd. This was covered with a membrane made from lamb or goat skin, with a bridge. The instrument was and is played with a bow while sitting down and held like a cello, even though it’s only about the size of a viola. A spike sticks out from the bottom while it’s being played, hence the “spiked” nickname.
Baglamas
A long-necked, six stringed Greek instrument, the baglamas not only resembles a guitar, it’s also played by plucking its strings. The body is sometimes made from a hollowed out piece of wood, but also made from a gourd. As a smaller version of another Greek instrument called a bouzouki, the baglamas became popular because it was easy to carry around, and small enough to be sheltered under a coat.
Hulusi
Coming from China, the hulusi is a flute that uses a very small gourd as a wind-chest. Holding the flute vertically, you blow into the top of the gourd. Your breath passed through the gourd and into the flute’s pipes. Hulusi usually have 3 pipes coming out of the gourd. The centre pipe has finger holes and produces the various notes, and one or two of the outer pipes are usually drone pipes, which produce a constant note or chord throughout the performance (sometimes one of the drone pipes is just for show and doesn’t actually work). The drone pipe has a finger hole to stop the tone. Some of the more advanced versions of the hulusi use keyed finger holes, like a clarinet or saxophone, which can broaden the flute’s range to several octaves.
Wooden Xylophones
This one is a little different from the rest. Instruments like the balafon from Africa and Mali, and the gyil from Ghana are very similar to large, modern xylophones, except they are made from wood. At this point you may be asking yourself, “what do gourds have to do with a wooden instrument?” In this case the gourds themselves aren’t struck, blown through, or even used in conjunction with strings. In this case, the gourds are used as resonators, trapping and releasing air to change both the volume and resonance of the instrument. In order to achieve this effect, extremely large gourds are placed under the bridge of wooden bars or keys to best capture the sound vibrations.
Gi Dunu
While large, hollowed out gourds have been used as drums all over the world, the Senufo people of the Ivory Coast created a unique water drum using two differently sized gourds. A larger gourd, cut in half, is filled with water. A second half-gourd is turned upside-down, and put into the water. The instrument is played by striking the smaller gourd with mallet. Usually played by women, the name “Gi Dunu” comes from the sound the instrument makes.
Lamellophones
A fairly common kind of instrument throughout many cultures, lamellophones, kalimbas, or thumb pianos are usually made with a simple wooden board, but some, especially the gongoma from Guinea, use a gourd to produce bass tones. The gourd not only acts as a resonator for the deep tones of the metal tines, but the bottom of the body of the gourd can also be tapped for added percussion.
Gourds! They’re not just for decoration! Of course, these are just a handful of examples of a worldwide tradition of making music with gourds. If you have any fun additions I failed to mention here, please share them in the comments.
Some of these instruments would be very hard to make at home (especially the xylophones!), but many others could be created on a rainy autumn day, and later used to brighten that same day up with music! Have some fun!