Sompoton

Sompoton or Sumpotan, is a mouth organ made from a gourd with Bamboo musical instruments, bamboo pipes in northern Borneo. It originated in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sabah and is played by indigenous men and women in Sabah, especially by the Kadazan-Dusun and Murut people, Murut.

Description

A sompoton consists of eight pieces of bamboo pipe inserted into a dried gourd sealed with Beeswax, bees' wax, which serves as a wind chamber. Unlike a bamboo flute, which is a straight pipe, the sompoton is a 'mouth organ' as it contains vibrating reeds. Another difference is that, unlike a flute (which is played only by expelled air), a sompoton can be played by both inhalation and exhalation. In Kota Kinabalu, capital of Sabah, at the Filipino crafts market one is likely to find 'ornamental sompotons' with only two reeds; but at the Sabah Cultural Centre one finds completely functional/playable sompotons with the full complement of 7 reeds. Traditionally, the individual pipes have their own names, such as ''lombohon'', ''monongkol'', ''suruk'', ''baranat'', ''randawi'', ''tuntuduk'' and ''tinangga''.

See also

* Keluri
* Khene
* Sheng (instrument), Sheng
* Gourd mouth organ

References

External links

The Making of the Sompoton
@Sabah.edu.my (in Dusun language, Dusun with English translation)

Bamboo musical instruments
Malaysian musical instruments
Malaysian inventions

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