Tunisian
RebabThe
Instrument
The rabab is an
ancient instrument whose name has almost become a generic name for skin-covered
lute. According to Lloyd Miller in Musical instruments of the East (p63) the
rabab family seems to have originated in Northern Afghanistan or Iran. The
earliest known record of rabab has been traced to the archeological excavation
at Nangarhar which shows the instrument has been in existence for over 2,000
years. In the Harrapan and Mohojendaran civilizations of the Indus Valley, there
are records of skin-covered lutes which may prove to have a link with the later
rabab traditions.
Various forms of rabab
appear in many Middle-Eastern, Asian and South-East Asian cultures. The first
written references to rabab appear in the 10th century treatises of Ibn-Sena and
Al Farabi; Al Farabi described the rabab as identical to the 'Khurasani tunbur',
having a long neck, with or without frets, a pyriform body and one or two
strings.
Present Classification
of Rabab Around The World
There are two main
types or rabab: instruments - those that are plucked with a striker or plectrum
and spike fiddles played with a bow.
a) The Bowed Rabab
Forms
Spike fiddle rababs
are to be found even today in North Africa; in Morroco a bowed rabab is only
second in popularity to the Ud, a pear-shaped plucked lute derived from the
Persian barbat which may prove to be a common ancestor of the rabab. Up until
the 17th century the bowed rabab existed by that name in Turkey after which it
has come to be known as kamenche, an ancient Persian instrument of large and
diminuitive sizes which can also be found in late 19th Century musical treatises
of Indian musical instruments. It may be a predecessor of the taus. (see later
section on taus). The Arabic rabab travelled through the spreading of Muslim
culture and is commonly believed to be the basis of the western violin. It
reached Europe by two routes: a pear-shaped variety was adopted in the Byzantine
Empire in the 9th Century as the lira, spreading westward and possibly giving
rise to the Italian fiddle. A boat-shaped variety, still played in North Africa,
was introduced by the Arabs to Spain in the 11th century and was played
alongside its newly-developed European descendent, the rebec, until the 14th
Century. (Encyclopedia Britannica). The original violin was not played under the
chin in the western manner, but upright on the knee like the bowed rabab.
Spike fiddles with
small square, rectangular, round and triangular resonators have been largely
used as an accompaniment for the voice. G.S.Villoteau in Description de l'Egypt:
etat Moderne distinguished two kinds of rabab: the one-string rabab al Shair
(poet's rabab) and the two-stringed rabab al Mughanni (singer's rabab), its
strings tuned in fifths. Meanwhile the instrument and its name have travelled
far. It has a wide distribution from the Middle-East, to North Africa,
South-east Asia where it performs the melodic function as part of the gamelan
orchestras of that region.
Middle East and Mediterranean fiddle
This large and complex area, incorporating many different countries, cultures and traditions, is as musically rich and diverse as its people. Whilst the violin is deeply rooted in many of these traditions, it has to share living space with many of its more exotic cousins, notably the rebab, kemanche and lyra.
Rebab
Of these the rebab (or rebap, rabab, rababah or al-rababa depending on your
point of view) is probably the oldest, dating at least as far back as the 8th
Century, when it was found in Arabia and Persia. It is almost certainly the
direct ancestor of the European violin. Islamic trading routes helped to spread
it over much of North Africa, the Middle and Far East from the 10th Century
onwards.
Tunisian
Rebab
Though many variations exist, the rebab consists of a small, usually rounded body, the front of which is covered in a membrane such as parchment or sheepskin. There is a long thin neck with a pegbox at the end and there are one, two or three strings. There is no fingerboard. The instrument is held upright, either resting on the lap or on the floor. There is often a spike at the bottom to rest on the ground; for this reason it is often referred to as a spike fiddle. The bow is usually more curved than that of the violin. The more sophisticated versions have a wooden soundbox and the front may be half covered with beaten copper, half with goatskin. An ornately carved Javanese version forms part of the gamelan orchestra, whilst simpler models such as the 2-string Egyptian "fiddle of the Nile" may have a body made of half a coconutshell.
Indonesian
Rebab
The rebab was adopted as a key instrument in the serious classical music of the Arabs, along with such instruments as the oud (classic arab lute), the ney (end-blown flute) and various percussion instruments. Much arab music is based on the style developed in Andalucia during the Muslim occupation of Spain around 1000 years ago, and includes instrumental passages, usually with a strong element of improvisation, alternating with sung poetry. Improvisations or taksim are based on a complex system of modes and rhythms. The melodic modes or maqamat have different combinations of 24 possible quarter notes, and each has its own mood, often associated with particular feelings or seasons. One hundred and eleven rhythmic patterns or iquala can be used; the simplest of these is the rajaz, based on the rhythm of a camel's hooves on the sand.. It is said that drum beats were used to keep the camels mesmerised throughout a long trip across the desert- at journey's end the drums would stop and the camels would drop down dead
The rebab became a favourite instrument of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, and could be heard everywhere from the palace to the tea house.. The arab orchestra or group uses many drones, unisons and parallel octaves, giving a stirring, powerful sound, but it is mostly modal with little in the way of chordal movement. The rebab, though valued for its voice-like tone, has a very limited range (little over an octave), and was gradually replaced throughout much of the arab world by the violin and kemanche.
) The Plucked Rabab
Forms
If the Arabic-derived
bowed rabab went westward, a plucked lute version has always been more prominent
in parts of Central Asia. This instrument, is generally believed to be derived
from Persian musical culture, but may have been found earlier in the Indus
Valley civilizations as mentioned earlier and may be the true birth-place of
rabab. Perhaps it was later prominent in the Islamic period and its Arabic name
may have been a local variant of an earlier instrument whose name and geneology
have been lost.
Perso-Iranian
Group
Ancient lute (plucked)
instruments such as the barbat ancestor of the ud.
barbat Ud setar Dambur
Tambur
(precursors of the sitar) and the skin-covered char-tar all
bear similarities in playing technique to the rabab. It is difficult to
determine ethnomusicologically which instruments have given rise to which. The
main differences between these two branches of the Perso-Iranian lute group is
that the rabab is a skin-covered and generally unfretted instrument while the
tunbur-setar group have wooden bodies and are both fretted and unfretted. The
char-tar is a a mixture of both being skin-covered and played on raised frets
set in wax and struck with a brass plectrum. The ancient Persian rabab is the
fore-runner of the classical drupad rabab of India.
A Rabab from
central Asia
Afghani
Rabab
There are several
different regional varieties of rababs to be found in the different provincial
regions of Afghanistan and border regions of Mongolia. It is believed by most
ethno-musicologists today that skin-covered instruments evolved amongst the
Central Asian races. A prominent instrument of the region is the 'Kabuli' rabab.
Today, it is the national instrument of Afghanistan. Mainly a folk instrument,
it is played with a rapid striking action. The Kabuli rabab is a boat-shaped
instrument with an indented waist which has a wooden, bone or ivory bridge and
is plucked with a triangular plectrum carved from bone, horn or coconut shell.
Its 4-6 gut strings are vibrated across the goat-skin covered body. It is common
that the strings run in double courses to heighten its rhythmic effects and this
rabab is traditionally made from almond or mulberry wood, although the
Indian-made instrument (an infrequently heard instrument) is now mainly made
from tun (cedar) wood. This rabab is mainly a folk instrument and when struck
with a rapid action produces 'a thrilling and provocative sound.' (Nargus Naheed,
p.102). It is also a very popular in the North-West Frontier province of
Pakistan and was an instrument use to excite armies on the move while going into
battle
According to oral tradition, the son of Tansen - Bilas Khan was the first of a famous line of rababis and vocalist and the rababi tradition of Indian classical music is said to originate with him. Raga Bilaskhani Todi is his creation. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Lucknow and Rampur were major centres for the drupad rabab. It and the bin are the instruments associated with this form of music. Both are plucked instruments. According to painter and art historian Imtiaz Ali Khan Khandara (taped interview conducted by the researcher) the only direct living male descendent of the Bilas Khan lineage presently residing in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, no bowed instrument was ever used in drupad performance, as bowed instruments produced shrill tones deemed unsuitable for this stately and measured form of music. Although not a musician, he absorbed the atmosphere and culture of rababi sangeet in the courtly atmosphere of Rampur. More importantly, he remembers his father playing and teaching the instrument. The drupad rabab was used as a solo instrument as well as in accompaniment. Its long neck with 4 strings gave greater opportunity to the rababi to perform over 3or more complete octaves or saptaks. Its strings were of gut and this rabab was played with hardened nails sliding on the fretless neck on the instrument. He remembers the elaborate efforts of his father in preparing his nails, which he did by grinding the filings into dust and then applying them to the nails mixed with coconut oil. These were heated and hardened over burning charcoal.
There has been a natural overflow of musical culture between Afghanistan and Northern India for centuries. Thus, the Afghani rabab is believed to come as a 'marching' instrument with the migrations of the Rohillas, from a region of Afghanistan in the 18th Century. (Allyn Miner, p 65 Sitar and Sarod in the 18th and 19th Centuries, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers,1997). It became very popular in the area, which came to be known as Rohillkhand whose cultural centre was Rampur which was founded in 1775. A number of amateur Afghani rababis eventually began to be influenced by classical music and within a 100 years the sarod was born from it to accommodate the range and depth of Indian music, compared with the simple folk style of the native Afghani instrument. Therefore, the Afghani rabab came much later into India. There are no depictions of it, for example, in Indian painting which clealy indicates it was a much later instrument. It has a different geneology to the Persian-derived rabab, which was always associated with classical music. The Afghani rabab has been largely superceded by the sarod which has rarely been used as a self-accompaniment instrument for singing. The sarod is an instrument designed for solo performance. Meanwhile, a variant of this instrument can be seen in Kashmir where it forms an integral part of its folk-music culture. Akrod (walnut), a light-weight wood native to Kashmir has been used to make the Kashmiri version of the instrument.