Meccan Musical Instruments

Henry George Farmer

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00151536

Meccan Musical Instruments

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011

Henry George Farmer

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Among the most interesting exhibits at the Rijks Ethnographisch Museum at Leyden are the Meccan musical instruments presented by the well-known Arabist and traveller, Professor Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje. They are displayed, in a special case containing other Meccan objects, in the bureau of the Director, Dr. H. H. Juynboll. These instruments, Dr. Snouck Hurgronje informs me, were not collected by himself personally, but by a Jidda friend who, unfortunately, omitted to supply the requisite data for scientific registering. Even their names are denied us. Yet with the help of the donor, both by conversations and correspondence, and the courtesy of the Director of the Museum, the present writer is able to submit an account of these instruments, which comprise a lute, two viols, three rustic reed-pipes, an oboe, a flute, and a tambourine.

Type: Articles
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 61 , Issue 3 , July 1929 , pp. 489 - 505

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00151536 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1929

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^{page 489 note 1} Bey, Alī, who made the pilgrimage to Mecca at the beginning of the nineteenth century, said: “I never once heard the sound of a musical instrument or song during the whole of my stay that was executed by a man; but my ears were struck once or twice by the songs of some women” (Travels of Ali Bey, ii, 103)Google Scholar.

^{page 289 note 2} Burton, , Arabian Nights (Burton's, Lady edit.), vi, 59Google Scholar. For music in relation to Islām, see my History of Arabian Music, chap. ii.

^{page 490 note 1} Since the Wahhābī conquest, music has probably been proscribed.

^{page 490 note 2} Al-Aghānī, iii, 84.

^{page 490 note 3} Al-Aghānī, vi, 17–18.

^{page 490 note 4} Hurgronje, Snouck, Mekka, ii, 54Google Scholar. Landberg, , Arabica, iii, 29Google Scholar.

^{page 490 note 5} Evliyā, Chelebī, Siyāḥat nāma (Constantinople, edit.), i, 638Google Scholar. Travels of Evliya Efendi, i, ii, 235.

^{page 490 note 6} Bodleian MS., No. 1842, fol. 77v.

^{page 491 note 1} 'Iqd al-farid (Cairo edit., 1887–1888), ii, 186Google Scholar.

^{page 491 note 2} Al-Mas'ūdī, . Prairies d'or, viii, 94Google Scholar.

^{page 491 note 3} Al-Aghānī, i, 98.

^{page 491 note 4} Lane, Lexicon, s.v.

^{page 491 note 5} Kitāb al-imtā' wa'l-intifā. Madrid MS., No. 606, fol. 13–14.

^{page 491 note 6} Lane, Lexicon, loc. cit.

^{page 491 note 7} Landberg, op. cit., 29–30.

^{page 491 note 8} Fitrat, (Tashkent, 1927), p. 43.

^{page 491 note 9} Landberg, 30–1.

^{page 492 note 1} Landberg, 114. Indeed, the name given to the musical instruments of the Nabaṭaeans and Jarmaqs by Ibn Khurdādhbih (d. 912), might very well refer to qunbūzāt (), as I have already hinted in my History of Arabian Music (p. 6). See also JRAS. 1928, 515.

^{page 492 note 2} The classical names for the various parts of the lute after Al-Fārābi are given, followed in some instances by the modern Egyptian terms after Villoteau.

^{page 492 note 3} Dr. Snouck Hurgronje informs me that the word 'ūd is not used by the Meccans, except in poetry.

^{page 493 note 1} Mekka, ii, 54–5.

^{page 493 note 2} The Meccan qahūs exhibited is certainly not “much like” the kamānja 'ajūz of Lane (Mod. Egypt., chap, xviii), to which Dr. Snouck Hurgronje refers us. There is, however, a type of kamānja to which it could be likened. See Engel, , Catalogue of the Musical Instruments in the South Kensington Museum, 210Google Scholar.

^{page 493 note 3} Evliyā, Chelebī, Travels, i, ii, 226, 234Google Scholar.

^{page 493 note 4} Kosegarten, , Lib. Cant., 77Google Scholar.

^{page 493 note 5} Ikhwān al-Ṣfā' (Bombay edit.), i, 91–2.

^{page 493 note 6} And the rabāb al-mughannī.

^{page 493 note 7} Villoteau, , Description de l'Égypte, Étât moderne, i, 900, 916Google Scholar. Lane, , Modern Egyptians (5th ed.), 356, 364Google Scholar.

^{page 493 note 8} Doughty, , Travels in Arabia Deserta (1888), i, 264, 289Google Scholar. Catalogue of the Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments (1905 et seq.), ii, 81–2Google Scholar.

^{page 493 note 9} Bodleian MS. cit., fol. 78v.

^{page 493 note 10} De Sacy, , Chrest. arabe, i, 159 of textGoogle Scholar.

^{page 494 note 1} It actually corresponds in size with the kamānja farkh or kamānja ṣughayyir of Villoteau.

^{page 494 note 2} Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 2361, fol. 262.

^{page 494 note 3} MS. cit., 78–78v.

^{page 494 note 4} Lavignac, , Ency. de la Musique, v, 3012Google Scholar.

^{page 494 note 5} Al-Maqrīzī, , Hist. des Sultans Mamlouks de l'Égypte, i, i, 136Google Scholar.

^{page 494 note 6} Berlin MS., We. 1233, fol. 47v.

^{page 494 note 7} Bowed instruments are not used in Ḥaḍramaut. Landberg, 25.

^{page 495 note 1} See exhibit 149, Catalogue . . . du Musée, Instrumental du Conservatoire royal de Musique de Bruxelles. Villoteau, , Description, i, 882Google Scholar. Fétis, , Hist. Mus., ii, 141Google Scholar.

^{page 495 note 2} The fifteenth century kamānja of Ibn Ghaibī was tuned similarly.

^{page 495 note 3} JRAS. 1929, p. 119.

^{page 495 note 4} The Mufaḍḍaliyyāt, xvii.

^{page 496 note 1} Al-Aghānī, ii, 172.

^{page 496 note 2} Al-Aghānī, ii, 121.

^{page 496 note 3} 'Iqd al-farīd, iii, 176.

^{page 496 note 4} Khallkān, Ibn, Biog. Dict., iii, 521Google Scholar.

^{page 496 note 5} JRAS. 1928, p. 511.

^{page 496 note 6} Kosegarten, , Lib. Cant., 204Google Scholar.

^{page 496 note 7} Schiaparelli, Vocabulista in Arabico (13th century), s.v. “fistula”.

^{page 496 note 8} Seybold, Glossarium Latino-Arabicum (eleventh century), s.v. “fistula”.

^{page 496 note 9} Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 1535. See Villoteau, op. cit., i, 617.

^{page 496 note 10} Al-Maqrīzī, , Histoire, i, i, 136Google Scholar. Ibn Ḥajar, Berlin MS., We. 1505, fol. 24. Ismā'īl, Muḥammad ibn, Safīnat al-mulk, 471Google Scholar.

^{page 496 note 11} Lane, , Modern Egyptians (5th Edit.), p. 367Google Scholar.

^{page 496 note 12} Snouck Hurgronje. Doughty, , Travels, ii, 118Google Scholar, refers to a double reed-pipe at Khaibar as a mizmār.

^{page 497 note 1} Beaussier, Diet, practique Arabe-Francais.

^{page 497 note 2} Lavignac, , Encyclopédie, v, 2793Google Scholar. Revue Africaine, 1866.

^{page 497 note 3} Dalman, , Palästinischer Dīwān, 25Google Scholar. Cf. Cat. of the Crosby Brown Collection, ii, 80, 81.

^{page 497 note 4} I say “approximate” because the distances in the two tubes do not strictly correspond.

^{page 498 note 1} This reed is described and delineated by Villoteau, op. cit., i, 966. Plates (vol. ii), co, fig. 24.

^{page 498 note 2} In the plate one of the reeds of No. 29 has slipped down into the tube of the instrument.

^{page 498 note 3} Tāj al-'arūs. Al-Ḥarīrī, , Maqāmāt, xviiGoogle Scholar. Al-Maqqarī, , Moh. Dyn., i, 56Google Scholar. Sehiaparelli, op. cit. Khaldūn, Ibn, Prolégomènes, ii, 353Google Scholar.

^{page 498 note 4} Cf. Ency. of Islām, ii, 136, where zallāma (sic) is considered a metathesis of zammāra.

^{page 498 note 5} Leyden MS., Or. 651, fol. 78. Kosegarten, , Lib. Cant., 98Google Scholar.

^{page 498 note 6} Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 2361, fol. 236.

^{page 498 note 7} Al-Maqrīzī, op. cit., i, i, 173.

^{page 499 note 1} Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 2361, fol. 263.

^{page 499 note 2} MS. cit., fol. 80.

^{page 499 note 3} Al-Aghānī, xvi, 138.

^{page 499 note 4} Khusrau, Nāṣir-i, Safar nāma, 47Google Scholar.

^{page 499 note 5} Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, ii, 126.

^{page 499 note 6} MS. cited, fol. 80.

^{page 499 note 7} Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 2361, fol. 173v–174.

^{page 499 note 8} Villoteau, op. cit., i, 931.

^{page 499 note 9} Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, ii, 126.

^{page 499 note 10} I give the modern Egyptian terms for the various parts of the instrument as given by Villoteau. See also Delphin, et Guin, , Notes sur la Poësie et la Muaique Arabes, pp. 38–9Google Scholar.

^{page 499 note 11} Cf. the term “speaker key” in the European clarinet.

^{page 500 note 1} Villoteau, op. cit., i, 931, and plates.

^{page 500 note 2} JRAS. 1929, p. 120.

^{page 500 note 3} The Mufaḍḍaliyyāt, xvii.

^{page 501 note 1} Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 2361, fol. 173v.

^{page 501 note 2} Villoteau, op. cit., i, 954. Lane, op. oit., 362.

^{page 501 note 3} Russell, , Natural History of Aleppo (2nd ed.), i, 152Google Scholar.

^{page 501 note 4} Salvador-Daniel, , The Music and Musical Instruments of the Arab, 109Google Scholar. Christianowitsch, , Esquisse historique de la Musiquearabe, 31Google Scholar. Delphin, et Guin, , La Poësie et la Musique arabes, 37Google Scholar.

^{page 501 note 5} Christianowitsch, 31.

^{page 501 note 6} Salvador-Daniel, 116. Delphin et Guin, 45.

^{page 501 note 7} Villoteau, i, 951.

^{page 501 note 8} Al-Qāmūs, s.v.

^{page 501 note 9} Leyden MS., Or. 651, fol. 15.

^{page 501 note 10} Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 2361, fol. 173v.

^{page 501 note 11} Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 2361, fol. 263.

^{page 501 note 12} MS. cit., fol. 79v.

^{page 502 note 1} Farmer, , History of Arabian Music, 27Google Scholar.

^{page 502 note 2} De Sacy, op. cit., i, 159.

^{page 502 note 3} Lisān al-'arab, s.v.

^{page 502 note 4} Kitāb al-imtā', fol. 12v.

^{page 502 note 5} Villoteau, i, 988, describes the Egyptian bandair with “jingling plates”, which properly belong to the ṭār.

^{page 503 note 1} It is written without the | in North-West Africa. Höst, Nachrichten von Marokos und Fes, writes tirr.

^{page 503 note 2} Kay, , Yaman, 54Google Scholar.

^{page 503 note 3} Macnaghten edit., i, 165; iv, 172.

^{page 503 note 4} The mazhar is a round tambourine with jingling rings of metal in the shell instead of jingling plates of metal.

^{page 503 note 5} Mekka, ii, 61.

^{page 503 note 6} Mekka, ii, 142.

^{page 503 note 7} See Lane, , Mod. Egypt., 366Google Scholar, for a typical example of an Egyptian ṭār, as well as a description of its use.

^{page 503 note 8} Mekka, ii, 54–5.

^{page 503 note 9} JRAS. 1926, pp. 239–52.

^{page 503 note 10} Villoteau, op. cit., i, 883.

^{page 504 note 1} In La Musique turque by Raouf Yekta Bey (Lavignac's, Ency. de la Musique, v, 2845–3064Google Scholar) it is stated that in the course of the eighteenth century the qānūn fell into complete desuetude in Turkey, and that under Sulṭān Selīm III (1789–1807), the most flourishing period of Turkish music, not a solitary qānūn player's name has been preserved. We are told that the instrument was re-introduced into Constantinople by an Arab of Damascus during the reign of Maḥmūd II (1808–39).

At the close of the seventeenth century, Evliyā Chelebī (d. c. 1679) mentions both makers and players of the qānūn in Constantinople. (Narrative of Travels, i, ii, 227, 234.) It is introduced by the Turkish poet Nabi into his Khairābād, written in 1705–5. (Gibb, , Hist, of Ottoman Poetry, vi, 233Google Scholar.) It is mentioned by Toderini, (Letteratura turchesca, Venice, 1787, i, 238)Google Scholar among the instruments in use in his day in Turkey. The present writer possesses an eighteenth century engraving by G. Scotin, entitled Fille Turque jouant du Canon.

^{page 504 note 2} Cat. . . . du Musée inst. du Conservatoire royal du Musique de Bruxelles, iii, 342, No. 1901; i, 191, No. 152. Cat. of the Crosby Brown Collection, ii, 77, No. 1248.

^{page 504 note 3} No. 1032/69.

^{page 504 note 4} Mekka, ii, 61.

^{page 504 note 5} Mekka, ii, 142.

^{page 504 note 6} Villoteau writes ḍarābukka.

^{page 504 note 7} See JRAS. 1928, pp. 514–15.

^{page 504 note 8} Golius, , Lexicon, 814Google Scholar. Al-Fīrūzābādī (d. 1414) likens it to the ṭunbūr.

^{page 504 note 9} Macnaghten edit., i, 244.

^{page 504 note 10} Burton, Arabian Nights.

^{page 504 note 11} Villoteau, i, 996.

^{page 504 note 12} Lane, , Mod. Egypt, 366–7Google Scholar.

^{page 505 note 1} Nos. 335, 349, 364.

^{page 505 note 2} Doughty, ii, 119.

^{page 505 note 3} Evliyā Chelebī, i, ii, 226.

^{page 505 note 4} See my Hist. of Arabian Music, 10.

^{page 505 note 5} Ikhwān al-ṣafā', i, 91. Ibn al-Ṭiqṭaqa, 30. Eclipse of the 'Abbāsid Caliphate, vi, 175.

^{page 505 note 6} Burton, , Personal Narrative . . ., iii, 76Google Scholar.

^{page 505 note 7} Revolt in the Desert, 64 et seq.

^{page 505 note 8} Villoteau has fully described the various Egyptian kettledrums.

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