Musicians

Monks, blowing huge horns during a Buddhist initiation ceremony, taking place outside a Tibetan monastery next to the Bodhnath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal. – This stupa is presented in depth on the page Religion: Buddhism. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Drums

One of the earliest instruments was the drum – originally probably a hollow tree trunk, beaten with a stick. Drumming is of great attraction to almost everybody, appealing to our deepest instincts. A selection of photographs below shows various types of drumming.

Drumming is a very important part of any Daoist event in Taiwan – temple festivals, parades, theatre performances, even funerals.

Daoism is dealt with in detail on the page Religion: Daoism in Taiwan.

During a performance in Taichung, the faces of these members of the Chio-Tian Folk Drums & Arts Troupe are painted to depict Bajiajiang – beneficial creatures, resembling devils. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

A simple type of drum is the tabla, which is beaten with the fingertips.

This Newar-man is beating a tabla during the Hindu festival of Bisket Jatra, celebrated in the city of Bhaktapur, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The tika mark on his forehead, consisting of a mixture of mustard oil and red powder, also contains rice kernels, indicating that an important festival is taking place. His hat, called a topi, is typical of the Newar people. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Sidis are an ethnic minority group in India and Pakistan, who descended from Bantu peoples of south-eastern Africa. Some arrived in Asia as merchants, sailors, or mercenaries, others were brought as servants or slaves. Today, the Sidi population is estimated at about 300,000 individuals, living mainly in Karnataka, Gujarat, and Hyderabad in India, and Makran and Karachi in Pakistan. A majority are Muslims, others are Hindus or Catholics.

Musician with a huge tabla, participating in the Orthodox Christian festival Timkat, celebrated in the town of Lalibela, Ethiopia. This festival is described in detail on the page Travel episodes – Ethiopia 1996: Timkat – a Christian festival. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Jain temples in western India are renowned due to their exquisite carvings in white marble. Other pictures from some of these marvellous temples are presented on the page Religion: Jainism.

Yet another very simple type of ‘drum’ is the gong, a flat, circular metal disc, beaten with a mallet. This instrument is typical of China, Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Wind instruments

Blowing through various tubes to produce sounds is another very early type of music. These tubes have evolved into a bewildering array of blowing instruments: flutes, lurs, horns, clarinets, and saxophones, to name but a few.

This Bronze Age petroglyph, found on a stone slab in Kivik Royal Tomb, Skåne, Sweden, depicts people, blowing on lurs. – Other pictures, depicting Bronze Age petroglyphs, may be seen on the page Culture: Folk art around the world. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Celebrating the Buddha’s birthday at the Bodhnath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal, these monks play on flutes, made from human femurs. – This stupa is presented in depth on the page Religion: Buddhism. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

During a Daoist festival, dedicated to the god of medicine, Bao Shang, these old men in the Daoist Longde Temple (‘Dragon Virtue’), Fenyuan, western Taiwan, play on clarinet-like instruments (top), while women are beating a huge drum. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Men, blowing huge, winding horns during a catholic procession in the city of Antigua, Guatemala, honouring Santa Clara of Assisi (1194-1253), one of the first followers of St. Francis. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Celebrating the Hindu festival Dassera, or Durga Puja, these men in the city of Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, India, blow on huge brass horns. – More about Hindu festivals is found on the page Travel episodes – India 1991: Attending Hindu festivals in Rajasthan. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

This priest is blowing a horn during the Orthodox Christian festival Timkat, celebrated in the town of Lalibela, Ethiopia. This festival is described in detail on the page Travel episodes – Ethiopia 1996: Timkat – a Christian festival. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

During a Daoist festival, dedicated to the Mother Goddess Mazu, celebrated in the town of Pitou, Taiwan, these men are blowing through long brass horns. The rise of the Mazu cult in Daoism is described on the page Religion: Daoism in Taiwan. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

This sculpture, encountered in the Hindu temple Brihadisvara, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, South India, depicts a being, blowing into a bag-pipe. It is quite similar to the European gargoyle, acting as support for a drainage pipe for rain water. – Gargoyles are described on the page Nature: Rain and dew. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

String instruments

A third type of instrument is the string instrument, in which you strike your finger nail, or another hard object, on strings, amplifying the produced sound in a gourd, or some other hollow object. Or you may rub a bow, made from cat’s hair or the like, on the strings to produce sounds.

In the old days, the strings were made of dried intestines, later of steel. Today, plastic strings are widely used.

Kabuki performance (Japanese theatre) in the city of Huwei, Taiwan. The musician is playing on a shamisen, or sangen (both words mean ‘three strings’), a traditional Japanese string instrument, on which you use a broad plectrum, called bachi. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

A blind Shona musician and his assistant perform on the street in Harare, Zimbabwe. While playing a guitar, the man is moving a puppet with his toes, making it ‘dance’ in time with the music. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Wandering minstrels in Luristan, Iran, playing on a local string instrument and a tabla. I explored this area together with my late friend Arne Koch Christoffersen, see page Travel episodes – Iran 1973: In the mountains of Luristan. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The harp is an advanced type of string instrument, on which you use the fingers of both hands to produce sounds.

In Ancient Egypt, the god Bes was defending the good and fighting the evil. This relief in the temple of Hathor, Philae, Aswan, depicts this deity, playing on a harp. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Piano and accordion

The piano was invented by Italian Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco (1655-1731) around the year 1700. It is a keyboard instrument with strings inside, which, when pressing the keys down with the fingers, are struck by wooden hammers, coated with wool felt.

An accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument, played by compressing or expanding bellows with your left hand, while pressing buttons or keys with your right hand. The pressing causes pallets to open, allowing air to flow across strips of brass or steel, called reeds, which vibrate to produce sounds inside the body.

Orchestras and miscellaneous

During an annual music festival, orchestras from various local communities in Tirol, Austria, gather in a village, in this case Prägraten, Virgen Valley. Most members are clad in traditional dress. The white feathers in some of the hats are so-called ‘chamois feathers’, symbolizing a tuft of hairs from the back of the chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra). In former days, Austrian hunters would often attach such tufts to their Tyrolian hat.

In the pictures below, various music instruments are played during a Hindu temple festival in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, including flutes, xylophones, gongs, and tablas.

In September 2001, my late friend John Burke and I attended an outdoor play at Fort Ticonderoga, Lake Champlain, New York State, in which scenes from the American Revolutionary War were re-enacted. Several pictures from this performance are shown on the page Novel: Rose of the Revolution.

A wandering musician and his assistant enjoy a break outside the Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. The musician has only one leg – the artificial one is seen to the right. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

This mural in Povls Church, Bornholm, Denmark, depicts serious sins, such as playing music, dancing, and playing games – at least according to certain puritanical Christian sects. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

A widespread African musical instrument is the mbira, or kalimba – in English called a thumb piano. This instrument consists of a wooden board, fitted with a resonator, e.g. a small gourd. On the board, metal tines of uneven length are attached, and you play by holding the instrument in both hands, plucking at the tines with your thumbs.

Klokkestenen (‘The Bell Stone’) is a dolmen from the Stone Age (c. 3000 B.C.), situated on the island of Lyø, Denmark. The small depressions in the stone are made over time by thousands of people, hitting the stone with a small rock, hereby producing a bell-like sound.

Numerous types of megalithic structures are presented on the page Culture: Megaliths.

During the Daoist Boat Burning Festival, in this case taking place in the village of Jiading, near Kaoshiung, Taiwan, musicians march in front of the boat, which is later burned as an offering to the god of diseases, Wang-yeh.

This festival, and many other Daoist festivals, are described on the page Religion: Daoism in Taiwan.

During Midsummer’s Festival, celebrated at Himmelsberga, Öland, Sweden, musicians play on accordion and a hurdy-gurdy-like Swedish instrument, called nyckelharpa. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Musicians, made from joined pieces of painted wood, Shenghsing, Taiwan. – Other pictures, depicting similar handicrafts, are shown on the page Culture: Folk art of Taiwan. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Almost all cows, grazing on mountain meadows in the Alps, wear bells, creating music when they move around on the meadows, like this one near Säntis, Sankt Gallen, Switzerland. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Wind-charms are made from bamboo stems of unequal length, which are hung up in strings. When the wind blows, the stems bang against one another, creating nice sounds. This one was seen in Lugu, Taiwan. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

(Uploaded September 2017)

(Latest update December 2022)

Kaj Halberg - writer & photographer

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Musicians