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: Smithsonian Folkways has chosen to remove this compilation from circulation because all of the tracks found on it are available elsewhere in the catalog in their own cultural context. This compilation was a project that promoted a now-discredited school of thought in early-twentieth-century scholarship, assuming that communities not characterized by Western cultural patterns and processes were “pure” reflections of earlier stages of cultural evolution. This school of thought has perpetuated racist views and policies toward the Indigenous peoples it characterizes. Presenting Indigenous music as “primitive” is harmful to the communities that create it, their descendants, and to public discourse in general. 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	Māori male singer and mixed chorus with drummer	00:35
102	Membranophones and Idiophones: Tap Dancing	Vincente Escudero	00:35
103	Membranophones and Idiophones: Hand Clapping	Group of Bulu women, Cameroon	00:44
104	Membranophones and Idiophones: Tapping Sticks	Group of Yolngu men and women, Australia	00:21
105	Membranophones and Idiophones: Tuned Sticks	Group of Hanunóo women playing kalutang (musical sticks), Philippines	00:31
106	Membranophones and Idiophones: Metal Cymbals	Krisnaswāmī Iyer	00:52
107	Membranophones and Idiophones: Pounding Bamboos	Yawalapití men, ceremonial chant with rattles, Mato Grosso	00:41
108	Membranophones and Idiophones: Beaten Pots	Musicians playing alghoza, ghara (clay pitcher), Pakistan	00:21
109	Membranophones and Idiophones: Rattles	Kamayurá men singing, playing rattles, Mato Grosso	00:31
110	Membranophones and Idiophones: Scrapers	Male singer with guiro (scraper), Mexico	00:34
111	Membranophones and Idiophones: Slit Drum	Mbala chief, Democratic Republic of the Congo	00:55
112	Membranophones and Idiophones: Finger Drum	Quechua musicians playing tinya and quena, 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 with doyra accompaniment, Palestine	01:05
116	Membranophones and Idiophones: Hollow-Log Drums (1)	Yoruba drummers at annual festival of Orisa-nla, Nigeria	01:52
117	Membranophones and Idiophones: Hollow-Log Drums (2)	Petro drummers, Haiti	00:35
118	Membranophones and Idiophones: Hollow-Log Drums (3)	D.K. Pattamal	02:03
119	Membranophones and Idiophones: Drum Chimes	Pat waing player, Myanmar	01:28
201	Membranophones and Idiophones: Gong Chimes (1)	Gong ensemble, hne (oboe) player, male singer, Myanmar	01:59
202	Membranophones and Idiophones: Gong Chimes (2)	Hanunóo gong ensemble, Philippines	00:37
203	Membranophones and Idiophones: Bell	Nōmanji Temple bell, Kawasaki, Japan	00:25
204	Membranophones and Idiophones: Inverted Bells	Master Dattopant and Group	02:33
205	Membranophones and Idiophones: Xylophone	Three Yasua balafon players, Ogooué River Region	01:34
206	Membranophones and Idiophones: Sansa	Bapindi men, Kikongo village, Western Congo	00:44
207	Membranophones and Idiophones: Jew's Harp	Hanunóo kinaban player, Philippines	00:33
208	Aerophones: Trumpets	Didjeridu puller with rhythm sticks, Australia	00:39
209	Aerophones: Horns	Men playing antelope horn, iron bell, and mixed chorus, Democratic Republic of the Congo	00:31
210	Aerophones: Oboe	Male singer with ciaramella, zampogna, Caserta, Italy	01:22
211	Aerophones: Clarinet	Shepherd piper with kanun accompaniment, Greece	01:15
212	Aerophones: Double Clarinet	Barzani dozaleh player, Kurdistan	01:08
213	Aerophones: Bagpipe	Patrick J. Touhey	00:44
214	Aerophones: Accordion	Accordion player with percussionist, Chavantina, Brazil	01:02
215	Aerophones: Vertical Flute	Kaval (flute) player, Macedonia	01:21
216	Aerophones: Transverse Flute	Svirala (flute) player, Serbia	00:40
217	Aerophones: Whistle Flute	Jerome Vanderburg	00:48
218	Aerophones: Giant Double Whistle Flutes	Two Kamayurá men playing tarawi (double flute), Brazil	00:45
219	Aerophones: One-Hand Flute	Pierre Rochas	00:43
220	Aerophones: Panpipes	Aymara pan-pipe orchestra, Lake Titicata region, Peru	01:04
221	Aerophones: Nose Flute	Temiar nose flute player recorded at Gerik, Malaysia	01:31
301	Chordophones: Ground Harp	Christophe Oxilas	00:47
302	Chordophones: Musical Bow	Mboko man playing musical bow, Cameroon	00:55
303	Chordophones: Arched Harp	U Ba Than	01:09
304	Chordophones: Harp	Tzotzil harpist, Mexico	01:09
305	Chordophones: Stick Zither	Swami D. R. Parvatikar	01:36
306	Chordophones: Tubular Zither	Group of Hanunóo children, Philippines	01:06
307	Chordophones: Bowl Zither	Ruhenzi	01:14
308	Chordophones: Langleik	Lengleik player, Norway	01:08
309	Chordophones: Lyre	Masenqo player, Gura Valley, Eritrea	01:40
310	Chordophones: Long Lutes (1)	Wolof géwël (griot) accompanying himself on xalam	01:20
311	Chordophones: Long Lutes (2)	Two male singers accompanied by tambura, Montenegro	01:16
312	Chordophones: Samisen	Female singer with shamisen accompaniment, Okayama	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)	Manola El de Badajoz	00:27
316	Chordophones: Diminutive Guitar	Hanunóo boy, Philippines	01:13
401	Chordophones: Gusla	Guslar (singer) accompanying himself on gusle, Montenegro	01:15
402	Chordophones: Sarinda	Musicians playing sarinda, flute, ghara (clay pitcher), Pakistan	01:38
403	Chordophones: Hu Ch'in	Musicians playing huqin, yangqin, China	01:25
404	Chordophones: Spike Fiddle	Tcherawata player, Gura Valley, Eritrea	01:05
405	Chordophones: Lira	Folk singer Sadik, Black Sea region, Turkey	00:58
406	Chordophones: Hardangerfele	Johannes Dale	01:20
407	Chordophones: Hurdy-Gurdy	Georges Simon	01:35
408	Orchestral Combinations: Balinese Gamelan	Gamelan orchestra, Koeta, Indonesia	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	String ensemble with violin, Romania	03:06
412	Orchestral Combinations: Spanish Cobla	Cobla ensemble, Catalonia	03:08

Catalog

Man's Early Musical Instruments

Track Listing

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