Like most of the musical instruments in the Seychellois culture, the Mouloumpa– Tube Zither of Seychelles- was introduced by slaves who were brought to work the land. It is a simple stringed instrument, made from a tube of bamboo.
What is a tube zither?
The tube zither is a stringed musical instrument in which a tube functions both as an instrument’s neck and its soundbox. As the ‘neck’ it holds strings taut and allows them to vibrate. As a soundbox it modifies the sound and transfers it to the open air. The instruments are among the oldest of chordophones. Most tube zithers are made of bamboo, played today in Madagascar, India, Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Bamboo is the preferred material for tube zithers because it is naturally hollow and is a good resonator.
How was the Mouloumpa- Tube Zither of Seychelles- made?
The Mouloumpa (also written as mouloumba and mulumba) is a bamboo polychordal tube zither with strings that run parallel to its tube body. It is made from a single internode of a thick-walled broad-diameter bamboo, with one node at each end. The bamboo stem is like a tube that has nodes. A node is a solid joint along the stem that helps to strengthen the stem. The segments between the nodes are called ‘internode’. The bamboo from which the mouloumpa is made is approximately 10 cm. in diameter and average half a meter long.
Parts of the adjacent internodes (sometimes called ‘transnodes’) are left to form a head and tail piece. The head and tail pieces are about the same length, long enough to allow the lips to touch the hole created in the node and produce the required sound.
The mouloumpa has between 7 to 9 strings that are carefully etched and lifted from the epidermis of bamboo itself and remain attached at both ends. This classifies the mouloumpa as an idiochord. An idiochord is a musical instrument in which the “string” of the instrument is made from the same material as its resonating body. The strings are then cleaned, and all sharp edges that could harm a finger are polished off.
In order to give the strings more tension and to help with the resonance, two small moveable wooden frets or small bridges are inserted beneath each string near the ends. These frets also allow for free vibration of the strings as well as assisting in the tuning of the equipment.
To further enhance the resonance, as well as allowing for the sound made by the mouth and the strings to travel, a long crack or cut is made along the tube parallel to the strings.
A small hole is also made in one of the nodes and this becomes the mouthpiece that is used as ‘the trumpet’.
The Kolitong polychord tube-zither from Philippines, shown in the photo below, is related to, but not, a mouloumpa . I have inserted it to illustrate the cut in the bamboo and the hole made in the node.
How is the mouloumpa tuned?
The mouloumpa is tuned by means of the moveable frets. As already mentioned, these frets are placed under the strings to give the strings more tension and to help with the resonance as well as allowing for free vibration. The tuning is done by sliding the top frets, ie. those that are located away from the mouthpiece. Moving them closer to the mouthpiece creates a higher pitch and sliding them away from the mouthpiece creates a lower pitch. The bottom frets are not moved.
How was it played?
Mouloumpa is a solo instrument and was played like a ‘trumpet’ or an end blown horn and acts as a voice amplifier. It is held at its tip that is furthest from the mouth, by the left hand leaving the right hand free to scrape/strike the strings.
The performer sings through the mouthpiece, while simultaneously scraping strings with a short bamboo stick. These strings only serve to enliven the player’s breath and song with characteristic vibrations.
According to Bernard Koechlin (1981), ‘the articulation of sounds is rapid and nasalized, because one of the ends of the instrument crushes the singer’s nose’.
When was mouloumpa played?
The mouloumpa was played during storytelling sessions and as accompaniment to the ‘Sokwe’ dance.
For Storytelling
The Seychellois mouloumpa is an example of innovation in the playing of an instrument. It was used as an integral part of storytelling of “zistwar lontan” (old stories, tales, etc.).
During the early days of settlement, the slaves, after a hard day’s work, would gather around a fire outside their huts and take part in riddling and storytelling sessions. The session was always led by a senior person or sometimes by a griot. A griot was a repository of oral tradition and was often seen as a leader due to his or her knowledge. He was a kind of historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, or musician and was respected in their small community.
He would use the mouloumpa to produce sound effects to create tension, suspense, mystery, and scary atmosphere in the storytelling process. He would imitate the sound of howling winds, ferocious storms and rain, angry animals etc…
This is how Bernard Koechlin describes the playing technique: “Le Seychellois racle les lanières (cordes) à l’aide d’une petite baguette de bois, tout en « chantant » à travers l’une des deux extrémités du tube de bambou. Par ce précédé, il amplifie et travestit sa voix pour la rendre plus mystérieuse…” (Koechlin, 1981).
Lulu Lumuka by Ton Pa
Bernard Koechlin, 1989, also describes the performance of Lulu Lumuka by Ton Pa as follows:
“L’instrument – le mulumba qui sert à interpreter ce chant est un amplificateur de voix. II ressemble par sa forme à la valiha malgache, mais diffère par sa structure et sa technique de jeu.”
“Les paroles d’un chant Seychellois ‘lulu lumulaka’ compose par un musicien de genie qui a aujourd’hui disparu – Jacob Marie dit Ton Pa (1904-1994) – sont un exemple de metissage linguistique. Elles constituent un entremêlement de mots de plusieurs langues: anglais, français, malgache, swahili… :
« Zao mon yon-yon, ya mulumba pas croyab
lulu lumulaka lulu
lamelame toto, lamelame le a mu/aka ! mu/aka lulu
aha ti frer
vin la foret ou defai marmaille
ou cause cote ti frer, marmaille
I dit : what now ? »
Les paroles de ce chant sont entrecoupées d’onomatopées, de grognements, de halètements, de grincements de dents… durant leur enchaînement musical. L’articulation des sons est rapide et nasalisée, car l’une des extrémités de l’instrument écrase le nez du chanteur. Lulu lumulaka est une improvisation qui se rapprocherait assez d’un conte musical pour veillée.”
Accompaniment for Sokwe:
The mouloumpa was sometimes also used to accompany the sokwe which is the only masked dance which seems to have survived in Seychelles until recent times.
Below is a small description of the sokwe by Koechlin(1976) describing how the mouloumpa (mouloumba) was used in the dance.
“The sokwe dancers or performers would usually adorn themselves with dried banana leaves or creepers like ‘lalyann san fen’ ( cassytha filiformis) and cover their faces with a rudimentary mask. Their dance, or rather movements, followed the calls of a ‘leader’ who alternated his voice uttering short phrases which were answered as they danced along. Many informants today would say that their parents taught them that they were imitating baboons (which surely existed where they came from) coming in from the forest. The sokwe dance repertoire could include either slow or rapid movements such as the one sung by the artist Ton Pa in an African language most probably with intermittent utterances of cries of ‘wa, wa, wa, wa, wa’ ….).He used the mouloumba to amplify his voice and even added to the humour of things by the screeching of his teeth (his peculiarity!) but any instruments could have added to the amusement.”
Mouloumpa and valiha
There are two types of tube zithers that are found in the Indian Ocean, the Mouloumpa and the Vahila. The mouloumpa is considered to be the ancestor of the valiha. However, it appears that the mouloumpa seems to be a case of reinvention in the technique of musical creation. While retaining the organological character of the original tube-zither, the Seychellois players have functionally re-interpreted it, presumably through lack of contact with the performance tradition.
Although the mouloumpa resembles, by its form, the Malagasy valiha, it differs in structure and playing technique. There is no melodic or sonorous relation between the valiha and the mouloumpa. Indeed, to play the valiha, the Madagascan musician plucks the strings of the instrument, while for the mouloumpa, the Seychellois scrapes the strings using a small wooden stick, while “singing” through one of the two ends of the bamboo tube. By this process, he amplifies and disguises his voice to make it more mysterious.
Possible Origin of the Mouloumpa– the name
The name of the mouloumpa may have derived from an African dance whereby the dancers hold each other’s shirt tail and dance in a circle. (D’offay & Lionnet, 1982 : 272). This dance is one that has now disappeared.
Possible Origin of the Mouloumpa– the instrument
It is possible that the tube zither originated from India and was introduced by traders to Sulawesi and surrounding islands. It could have then been introduced to the East African coast or straight to Madagascar by seafarers from the Malay Islands who travelled across the Indian Ocean following the long-established Austronesian trade routes.
TRANSFER TO MADAGASCAR AS PART OF SWAHILI COASTAL TRADING, 8TH CENTURY ONWARDS
On this Austronesian trade routes, seafarers from the 5th to 7th centuries could have reached Madagascar travelling south along the East African coast, after having previously developed a kind of African-Indonesian culture on the East African coast. Unlike the stick-zither ( zez) which is widespread along the East African coast, the tube zither did not survive on the East African mainland, but survived in Madagascar, where the Vahila has become the national musical instrument.
TRANSFER TO SEYCHELLES
There are two possible routes that the tube zither could have taken on its way to the Seychelles. It could have been introduced through the Comoros Islands or from Madagascar through Réunion Island.
From the Comoros Islands
On becoming established in Madagascar, it was adopted by the mixed Bantu/Austronesian populations who moved it to the Comoros. There is a possibility that it was introduced to the Seychelles directly from the Comoros.
From Madagascar through Réunion island
After the creation of the settlement ‘L’Etablissement Du Roi‘ (now Victoria) on Mahé in 1778, the French settlers brought slaves from Réunion Island (then known as Ile Bourbon) to establish the foundations of the islands’ plantation economy which at that time was cotton and coconut. Most of the slaves were initially from Madagascar and the East Coast of Africa, especially Mozambique. I think it is fair to assume that the Malagasy slaves could have brought the tube zither of Seychelles with them during that time. The tube zither did not survive in Réunion Island, but it survived in Seychelles where it underwent a remarkable transformation, as explained above. It sadly disappeared around the early 1980s.
POST AUTHOR’S REFLECTION
Let us revive the musical instruments of our ancestors. Wouldn’t it be great to, one day, have a Seychellois orchestra whereby the mouloumpa, the makalapo, zez and bonm and the moutya drum appearing together on stage or in the open air?
Sources
- Approche Pour Une Etude Du Metissage Des Instruments De Musique De L’Océan Indien, Yu-Sion Live, Université De La Réunion
- Wikipedia
- Koechlin Bernard, Musique traditionnelle de L’Océan Indien, Paris, 1981,
- Using diverse sources of evidence for reconstructing the prehistory of musical exchanges in the Indian Ocean and their broader significance for cultural prehistory-Roger Blench- Kay Williamson Educational Foundation
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