Sasando

The Sasando ( Malay ), also sesando, rotinesisch: sasandu, is a tube zither heterochorde from bamboo with bell. It is the national musical instrument of the population on the island of Roti in the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara.

Design and dissemination

The resonator consists of a bamboo pipe section of a node whose end around parallel metal strings are stretched to the upper end. The strings are held down by metal pins or a wire coil and clamped on the opposite side eddy of wood or metal. The vertebrae protrude at simple instruments are stellate holes that are drilled into the bamboo tube out. There are also different expenses from the basic form out sophisticated instruments, such as " concert " sasandos with an extra-wide, placed on the bamboo peg box made ​​of wood. In many instruments, both ends composed of a timber fitted part to which the strings are secured.

Until the 19th century the bamboo zithers were idiochord, they had about ten, along out of the tube peeled bamboo strips as strings that were excited by foisted on wooden blocks. Today is applied for the 10 to 36 and more strings thin copper wire. In simpler designs with ten to eleven strings find clutch wires from mopeds use. Each string is held at a distance by one or two wooden wedge- shaped webs from the pipe and tuned by moving these bridges and rotating of the vertebrae. The length of the often elaborately painted bamboo tube is about 50 to 70 centimeters.

A Sasando gong has ten or eleven strings and can only play traditional music. The instrument is tuned in pentatonic scale and has a range of two octaves. The strings are tuned individually as in G - B half- flat - C - E half- flat - F, with an upper G in the eleventh string.

With the Sasando biola, the 24 diatonic tuned by violin tones strings has ( biola, Indonesian " violin " ), can be religious and modern entertainment music play, including the Indonesian national anthem Ibu Pertiwi Kulihat.

Similar bamboo zithers of the Malay Archipelago are many places almost disappeared with the extinction of the traditional culture through Islamization and the influence of Christian missionaries, such as the tatabuan kawan the Moluccas with five idiochorden strings and played in Borneo tongkungon. On Flores were called tube zither with three to nine strings, among other gong tondu, santu ( santo ), nggonggri and mapa. In Timor there were about 35 centimeters long queuqueuquepere the bamboo zither, which was of healers ( matam doc) used for ceremonial treatment of physical ailments. The player they plucked either with a Bambusplektrum or stroked with a tendon bow across the strings and struck with wooden mallets simultaneously against the forehead pages. In the Philippines, there are several, kolitong called bamboo zithers with five to nine strings. Bamboo zithers have moved from their Southeast Asian origin region around the 15th century to Madagascar, where they are called Valiha.

However, no other bamboo zither has the Sasando for the characteristic horn ( haik ) of fan in a semicircle forming strips of leaves of Lontarpalme ( Borassus sundaicus Beccari ). The bamboo body holds as a central axis along the folding fan circuit, with this, the instrument can be mounted or leaning while playing. The player places the instrument in front of him on his knees, he plucked with the fingernails of the right hand and the bass strings with the left hand, the treble strings. Instead of a rhythm of haik can be beaten with sticks. We occasionally generated by installation of an electromagnetic pickup an artificially loud sound. The electric version called Sasando biola listrik. Some recent Sasando have biola a rectangular wooden box as a resonator.

Sasando tradition

The Sasando is also known except to Kupang on the island of Roti on the larger neighboring island of Timor. It is played either as a solo instrument or a singer accompanied with her ​​his songs, acting in sad mood of an inescapable fate. The verses are usually carried forward to bini, a ritual high-level language with its own vocabulary, which is understood as "the language of ancestors". The chorus can be sung kupang in ordinary Rotinesisch or Bahasa. The latter is the regional language of communication, which is composed of a blend of Indonesian, Timoresisch, Rotinesisch and Dutch.

Sasando players lined up earlier to entertain the king, today they play in traditional festivals such as Thanksgiving, weddings, birthdays and other family celebrations. The men wear this one Tiilangga hat made of palm leaves on the head.

In addition to the songs, which are occasionally accompanied by stringed instrument Sasando and drums, there's Roti on a second music genre whose lead melody instrument of a series of nine suspended on a wooden frame hump-gong ( Meko ) exists. The Meko ensembles are a relatively recent development, early 19th century, they were probably introduced and go back to influences of the Javanese Gamelan. In both ensembles the same repertoire is commonly used ways to play the two instruments seem designed to imitate each other. With the nine lower strings of a ten-stringed Sasando gong, a player can play as the sounds of the nine gongs. Regardless of the question of the age of both instruments this refers to an independent local music tradition. A similar imitative acquisition practice the Batak in northern Sumatra, the hasapi with the ensemble to the Zupflauten the melody of the Gong game Gondang sabangunan play.

On the Origin of Sasando are several stories in circulation. In a story told Ana Sanggu created in the 15th century on a small island off the southwest coast of Dana Roti Sasando the Archetype. Sanggu was from a neighboring island and was arrested by the ruling on Danu island king, as he was there to catch fish. The king's daughter fell in love with Sanggu and desired of him a new musical instrument. She received one with seven strings from burl wood fibers. When the king saw the relationship, he put to death Sanggu. Sanggus companion managed to escape to the home island, where the son Sanggus gathered men around him, with which he destroyed the entire island Dana, only the children spared and only took the Sasando.