Catalog

Man's Early Musical Instruments

Various Artists

This 1956 educational compilation was edited by famed German musicologist Curt Sachs (1881–1959). Sachs was a co–creator of the Sachs–Hornbostel system of musical instrument classification, which the album showcases using examples from previous Folkways recordings. The album begins with the most basic percussion, foot–stamping and hand–clapping. It continues with various membranophones (skin–sounders), idiophones (self–sounders), aerophones (wind instruments), and chordophones (stringed instruments), and finishes with various examples of orchestral combinations of them all. The liner notes include an introductory essay by Sachs along with photographs and a discography of the source material used.

EN ESPAÑOL

Esta compilación educativa de 1956 fue editada por el famoso musicólogo alemán Curt Sachs (1881–1959). Sachs fue un co-creador del sistema de Sachs-Hornbostel de clasificación de instrumentos musicales, que el álbum muestra usando ejemplos de anteriores grabaciones de Folkways.

El álbum comienza con la percusión, más básica, taconeo y palmas. Continúa con diversos membranófonos (resonadores), idiófonos (auto sonidos), y aerófonos (instrumentos de viento) y cordófonos (instrumentos de cuerda) y termina con varios ejemplos de combinaciones orquestales de todos ellos. Las notas incluyen un ensayo introductorio de Sachs, junto con fotografías y una discografía de la materia prima utilizada.

*Content Advisory: This album’s title and liner notes contain dated language and concepts. We are aware that presenting Indigenous music as “primitive” is harmful to the communities that create it, their descendants, and to public discourse in general. Smithsonian Folkways has chosen to keep this album in circulation because of the value of the unique musical performances it presents. The liner notes, however, reflect a now-discredited school of thought in early-twentieth-century scholarship that assumed that communities not characterized by Western cultural patterns and processes were “pure” reflections of earlier stages of cultural evolution. We have chosen to post the album and liner notes in their original form, as they are historical documents. However, we also acknowledge that this school of thought has perpetuated racist views and policies toward the Indigenous peoples it characterizes. We encourage the reader to learn more by clicking here.

For our policy on controversial recordings, please see our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Track Listing

101	Membranophones and Idiophones: Foot Stamping	Maori singers with drumming	00:35
102	Membranophones and Idiophones: Tap Dancing	Vincente Escudero	00:35
103	Membranophones and Idiophones: Hand Clapping	Bulu women singing and clapping	00:44
104	Membranophones and Idiophones: Tapping Sticks	Indigenous Australian group chanting and playing clapsticks	00:21
105	Membranophones and Idiophones: Tuned Sticks	Group of Hanunóo women playing kalutang (musical sticks)	00:31
106	Membranophones and Idiophones: Metal Cymbals	Krisnaswāmī Iyer	00:52
107	Membranophones and Idiophones: Pounding Bamboos	Male singers with rattles and pounding tube player (Suyá)	00:41
108	Membranophones and Idiophones: Beaten Pots	Musicians playing alghoza and matka (India)	00:21
109	Membranophones and Idiophones: Rattles	Camayurá men singing, accompanied by rattles	00:31
110	Membranophones and Idiophones: Scrapers	Male singer with guiro (scraper)	00:34
111	Membranophones and Idiophones: Slit Drum	Mbala Chief	00:55
112	Membranophones and Idiophones: Finger Drum	Quechua tinya and quena players from Quispicanchis	00:38
113	Membranophones and Idiophones: Water Drum	Philip Broken Leg	00:46
114	Membranophones and Idiophones: Frame Drums (1)	Polly, Atitah, Mikusha, and Billy Boy of Shugliaq, Nunavut	01:38
115	Membranophones and Idiophones: Frame Drums (2)	Bukharian women singing accompanied by doyra players	01:05
116	Membranophones and Idiophones: Hollow-Log Drums (1)	Yoruba Igbin drummer	01:52
117	Membranophones and Idiophones: Hollow-Log Drums (2)	Pétro drummers in Haiti	00:35
118	Membranophones and Idiophones: Hollow-Log Drums (3)	D.K. Pattamal	02:03
119	Membranophones and Idiophones: Drum Chimes	Pat waing drummer (Myanmar)	01:28
201	Membranophones and Idiophones: Gong Chimes (1)	Ci wain (gong) player and tenor oboe player (Myanmar)	01:59
202	Membranophones and Idiophones: Gong Chimes (2)	Hanunóo gong player	00:37
203	Membranophones and Idiophones: Bell	Nomanji temple bell	00:25
204	Membranophones and Idiophones: Inverted Bells	Master Dattopant and Group	02:33
205	Membranophones and Idiophones: Xylophone	Yaswa xylophone players	01:34
206	Membranophones and Idiophones: Sansa	Sansa player from the village Kikongo	00:44
207	Membranophones and Idiophones: Jew's Harp	Hanunóo kinaban player	00:33
208	Aerophones: Trumpets	Didjeridu puller with rhythm sticks	00:39
209	Aerophones: Horns	Koukouya singer with drum, five ivory-horn players	00:31
210	Aerophones: Oboe	Pipe and reed instrument players, male singer	01:22
211	Aerophones: Clarinet	Shepherd clarinet-like pipe player and kanun accompaniment	01:15
212	Aerophones: Double Clarinet	Barzan double-clarinet player	01:08
213	Aerophones: Bagpipe	Patrick J. Touhey	00:44
214	Aerophones: Accordion	Accordion player with percussionist in Chavantina, Brazil	01:02
215	Aerophones: Vertical Flute	Flutist from Macedonia	01:21
216	Aerophones: Transverse Flute	Flutist from Serbia	00:40
217	Aerophones: Whistle Flute	Jerome Vanderburg	00:48
218	Aerophones: Giant Double Whistle Flutes	Kamaiura double flutist	00:45
219	Aerophones: One-Hand Flute	Pierre Rochas	00:43
220	Aerophones: Panpipes	Aymara pan-pipe orchestra	01:04
221	Aerophones: Nose Flute	Nose flute player	01:31
301	Chordophones: Ground Harp	Christophe Oxilas	00:47
302	Chordophones: Musical Bow	Male Mboko musical bow player	00:55
303	Chordophones: Arched Harp	U Ba Than	01:09
304	Chordophones: Harp	Tzotzil harpist	01:09
305	Chordophones: Stick Zither	Swami D. R. Parvatikar	01:36
306	Chordophones: Tubular Zither	Group of Hanunóo children	01:06
307	Chordophones: Bowl Zither	Ruhenzi	01:14
308	Chordophones: Langleik	Norwegian langleik player	01:08
309	Chordophones: Lyre	Masonquo player from Gura Valley, Eritrea	01:40
310	Chordophones: Long Lutes (1)	Four Wolof women	01:20
311	Chordophones: Long Lutes (2)	Female singer with male chorus from Montenegro	01:16
312	Chordophones: Samisen	Japanese musicians	02:00
313	Chordophones: Banjo	Dock Boggs	01:19
314	Chordophones: Guitars (1)	Niño Ricardo and la Niña de los Peines	02:38
315	Chordophones: Guitars (2)	Male singer and guitarist	00:27
316	Chordophones: Diminutive Guitar	Hanunóo boy	01:13
401	Chordophones: Gusla	Montenegrin guslar	01:15
402	Chordophones: Sarinda	Sarinda player	01:38
403	Chordophones: Hu Ch'in	Hu-kin player	01:25
404	Chordophones: Spike Fiddle	Tcherawata player from Gura Valley, Eritrea	01:05
405	Chordophones: Lira	Turkish lira player	00:58
406	Chordophones: Hardangerfele	Norwegian hardangerfele fiddler	01:20
407	Chordophones: Hurdy-Gurdy	Georges Simon	01:35
408	Orchestral Combinations: Balinese Gamelan	Javanese male singer and gamelan orchestra	02:57
409	Orchestral Combinations: Burmese Orchestra	Sein Be Dar Orchestra	01:30
410	Orchestral Combinations: Thai Orchestra	Bang Khun Phrom Palace Orchestra	03:14
411	Orchestral Combinations: Rumanian Orchestra	Romanian fiddler	03:06
412	Orchestral Combinations: Spanish Cobla	Spanish cobla players	03:08

Catalog

Man's Early Musical Instruments

Track Listing

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