The (, term adopted in Sotho), and or ( Khoisan, for a type of bird,Levine, L. (2005). ''The Drum Cafe's Traditional Music of South Africa'', p.115. Jacana Media. . term adopted by the

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

and Zulu),Afọlayan (2004), p.234. are members of a class of "unbraced mouth-resonated bow Levine (2005), p.237. with a flattened

quill A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, the metal- nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventual ...

attached to a long string, stretched over a hard stick, acting as the main source of vibration. Holding both hands around the quill, positioned without touching just inside the lips, the player sharply inhales or exhales against it, creating vibration in the string.Kirby (2009), p.33. This "produces a powerful buzzing sound," usually in short notes on a small, limited scale. Inhalation excites the

harmonics A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the '' fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', ...

of the string, while exhalation is most often accompanied by a throaty grunt, except in players with strong breath,Kirby, Percival (2009). "The ''Gora'', a Stringed-wind Instrument", ''The World of South African Music: A Reader'', p.36. Lucia, Christine; ed. Cambridge. . and may be accompanied by

humming A hum is a sound made by producing a wordless tone with the mouth closed, forcing the sound to emerge from the nose. To hum is to produce such a sound, often with a melody. It is also associated with thoughtful absorption, 'hmm'. A hum has a ...

. Vocalizations create, from a single player, the effect of more than one

part Part, parts or PART may refer to: People *Armi Pärt (born 1991), Estonian handballer * Arvo Pärt (born 1935), Estonian classical composer *Brian Part (born 1962), American child actor *Dealtry Charles Part (1882–1961), sheriff (1926–1927) a ...

.Coplan, David B. (1994). ''In the Time of Cannibals: The Word Music of South Africa's Basotho Migrants'', p.203. University of Chicago. . The harmonics used are primarily the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and twelfth. At the other end, in some areas, is a coconut shell

resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a resonator ...

, with a tension

noose A noose is a loop at the end of a rope in which the knot tightens under load and can be loosened without untying the knot. The knot can be used to secure a rope to a post, pole, or animal but only where the end is in a position that the loop can ...

wrapped around the string to adjust the pitch ( Hornbostel-Sachs number: 311.121.222). The lesiba's construction is unique: "no other class of stringed-wind instrument has been found anywhere else in the world." According to Barrow in 1806, the instrument sounds "like the faint murmurs of distant music that 'comes o'er the ear' without any distinction of notes."Kirby (2009), p.32. Barnard in 1910 noted the loudness of the instrument, while Alberti in 1810 compared the sounds to the "tones of the so-called

Hunting-horn A horn is any of a family of musical instruments made of a tube, usually made of metal and often curved in various ways, with one narrow end into which the musician blows, and a wide end from which sound emerges. In horns, unlike some other bras ...

," presumably a reference to the shared use of the harmonic series. According to Kirby in 1934, "the tone is, when well produced, very pleasant, partaking of the qualities of both string and wind, reminding one of the Aeolian harp; and it can be varied in power from a faint whisper to a strong, vibrant sound, the air column of the mouth and throat acting as a resonator."Kirby (2009), p.35. Though very few people alive today play this instrument, the "harsh, bird-like sounds" the instrument produces are so well recognised among the Sotho that it is used on Lesotho Radio to signal the start of the news broadcast. The lesiba is the national instrument of the

Basotho The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who ...

, a southern African people, now located primarily in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and Lesotho, and the

Khoikhoi Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

people of

. The lesiba is played mostly by herdsmen and herdboys to give signals and instructions to their cattle, and, almost as much, for their own entertainment. As such, studies of the instrument may be classified as

zoomusicology Zoomusicology () is the study of the musical aspects of sound and communication as produced and perceived by animals. It is a field of musicology and zoology, and is a type of zoosemiotics. Zoomusicology as a field dates to François-Bernard Mâ ...

, and passages on the instrument are metaphorically compared to various ''linong'' (). One player, Ntate Thabong Phosa, plays with

Sipho Mabuse Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse (born in Johannesburg, 2 November 1951) is a South African singer. Sipho grew up in Soweto. His mother was Zulu and his father was Tswana. Sipho and his band used to be managed by Solly Nkuta, After dropping out of scho ...

and can be heard in the song "

Thaba Bosiu Thaba Bosiu is a sandstone plateau with an area of approximately and a height of 1,804 meters above sea level. It is located between the Orange and Caledon Rivers in the Maseru District of Lesotho, 24 km east of the country's capital Maseru. ...

" on Mabuse's ''Township Child'' album.

References

External links

Recording of lesiba playing
��field recording by

Kevin Volans Kevin Volans (born 26 July 1949) is a South African born Irish composer and pianist. He studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel in Cologne in the 1970s and later became associated with the ''Neue Einfacheit'' (New Simplicity) mov ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Goura (Musical Instrument) Aerophones Harmonic series (music) Lesotho music Musical bows Southern African musical instruments

See also

References

External links