Organology

(Port. agogô)

A Yorùbán term for a clapperless bell of the Yorùbá-, Igala-, and Edo-speaking peoples of Nigeria. The Yorùbá agogo can be single or double (one above the other, called agogo oníbéjì from ìbejì, ‘twins’); it is struck with a metal or wooden beater. The agogo (also the Yorùbá term for ‘clock’ or ‘watch’) plays the timeline in a range of drum ensembles and popular music bands. It can also be used in ensembles comprised only of agogo which play interlocking parts as song accompaniment, notably in the Ifá and Ọbàtálá cults. The Igala distinguish between the agogo (also known as ogege or ugege) and the larger ceremonial enu. The agogo, usually single (except near the Igbo border where double bells are found), is used for signalling or to accompany song and dance. The enu is made from a curved plate, welded to give an oval cross-section, and is 68 cm to 83 cm tall and 55 to 68 cm wide; it may be single or double, again one above the other. These ceremonial bells are associated with different titles, all of them high in the king-making system, and they are normally kept in the ancestral shrine. Among the Edo/Bini the terms ...

Wooden drone pipe played with varying techniques in a number of Australian Aboriginal cultures. Often regarded as a pan-Aboriginal instrument, the didjeridu is probably indigenous only to certain cultural areas lying along the north coast of Australia, especially in Arnhem Land and other areas in the ‘Top End’ of the Northern Territory. A number of didjeridu-playing cultures in immediately adjacent areas (e.g. the Kimberleys) have received didjeridu-accompanied song genres from their Top End neighbours.

Aboriginal mythology regards the didjeridu as a Dreamtime creation, while the historical origin of the instrument is uncertain. The earliest known depictions of the instrument in rock art suggest that its use might date back only to about 1000 ce, though some of the song genres which the didjeridu now accompanies clearly originate from a much earlier period.

The didjeridu is called by different names in the various cultures that use the instrument. One name for the instrument coined by the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land, ...

Class ranking of instruments, high to low, in a society’s estimation. The relative position of a type of instrument must be distinguished from the status accorded a singular example. An ordinary guitar once owned by Elvis Presley would be elevated among his fans for its provenance alone. Usually an instrument’s social status seems inseparable from the status of its players and music. For example, the 18th-century hurdy-gurdy was held in low repute by the elite as a clumsy device for grinding out folk tunes by itinerant beggars, but refined models created for Arcadian ladies were considered fashionable and engendered a charming repertory. Baroque bagpipes display the same dichotomy; brash-sounding folk types with naked bags were portrayed as vulgar, even phallic, while elegant musettes taken up by aristocrats were esteemed accordingly. On the other hand, Baroque trumpets and kettledrums used in the service of persons and institutions of high estate as sounding symbols of their eminence were played by subordinates who were often hardly more than servants. Similarly, the church organ, regarded by Mozart as the ‘king of all instruments’ and often a symbol of civic pride, was commonly played by a humble schoolmaster. Thus, an instrument type does not automatically confer its status on its player and vice versa....