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{{Short description|Simple string musical instrument}}
{{About|the bow as a musical instrument|the bow used to play another instrument|Bow (music)}}
[[File:MusicalBow.gif|thumb|300px|Obu man playing a musical bow in [[Obubra]], [[Cross River State]], Nigeria]]
{{listen|filename=Toque-de-angola.ogg|title=An unaccompanied berimbau|description=The [[berimbau]] is a musical bow, originally from Africa, that is now used in Brazil.|format=[[Ogg]]}}

The '''musical bow''' ('''bowstring''' or '''string bow''', a subset of [[bar zither]]s) is a simple [[string instrument]] used by a number of African peoples as well as Indigenous peoples of the Americas.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/501113|work=metmuseum.org|title=Musical Bow}}</ref> It consists of a flexible, usually wooden, stick 1.5 to 10 feet (0.5 to 3 m) long, and strung end to end with a taut cord, usually metal. It can be played with the hands or a wooden stick or branch. It is uncertain if the musical bow developed from the [[bow and arrow|hunting bow]], though the [[San people|San or Bushmen people]] of the [[Kalahari Desert]] do convert their hunting bows to musical use.<ref name=Brit/>

Types of bow include mouth-resonated string bow, [[ground bow|earth-resonated string bow]], and gourd-resonated string bow.<ref>Nzewi, Meki and Nzewi, Odyke (2007). ''A Contemporary Study of Musical Arts: Informed by African Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Volume 1: The Root: Foundation'', p. 108. African Minds. {{ISBN|9781920051624}}</ref><ref name=Brit>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/African-music#ref519723|title=African music Musical bows|encyclopedia=britannica.com|author=Donald Keith Robotham}}</ref>

== History ==

{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center
 | align = right
 | image1 = Ragaputra Sarang painting, from Bundi, showing "The Divine Musician playsa a pinaki vina".jpg
 | width1 = 145
 | alt1 = Indian Musical bow in art
 | caption1 = India, ca. 1725, Bundi style. A divine musician plays a hunting bow with its tip placed in a resonance pot. Possible [[pinaka vina]] or [[ravanahatha]].<ref name=journal>{{cite journal |journal= National Center for Performing Arts Quarterly Journal |author= Joep Bor |title= The Voice of the Sarangi, An Illustrated History of Bowing in India |pages= 38–47|volume= 15 & 16 |date= 1986–1987 |url= https://archive.org/details/MusicRes-Periodicals|quote= [Three issues of this quarterly journal were combined into one; Volume 15 (issues 3 and 4) and Volume 16 (issue 1).]}}</ref>
 
 |image2=Illustration of Homme masque en Bison jourant de la flute Wellcome M0004767.jpg
 |width2=150px
 |alt2=engraving of cave wall art
 |caption2=Lithograph of scene from the [[Cave of the Trois-Frères|Trois Frères cave]], showing a figure on the wall whose bow(?) has been thought to possibly be musical.
}}

There is speculation that the [[hunting bow]] may have been used as a musical instrument from as early as circa 13,000 B.C.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Origin of Musical Instruments and Sounds|author=Bo Lawergren|page=36|journal=Anthropos|volume=83|issue = 1/3|edition=83|year=1988|publisher= Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH|jstor = 40461485}}</ref> [[Henri Breuil]] surveyed the [[Trois Frères]] in France caves and made an engraving that attempted to reproduce a c. 13,000&nbsp;B.C. cave painting into a black-and-white lithograph engraving.<ref name=frerescavedate>{{cite web|url= http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/trois-freres-cave.htm| title=Trois Freres Cave|access-date=March 27, 2015|quote=Henri Breuil surveyed the cave... a detailed study was published by H.Breuil and R.Begouen of the hundreds of engraved drawings in the deep gallery known as the "Sanctuary"...Its walls are filled with some 280 engraved (often superimposed) images of bison, horses, stags, reindeer, ibexes, and mammoths... }}</ref> His engraving showed a mysterious figure, a "man camouflaged to resemble a bison," in the midst of a mass of herd-animals, "herding the beasts and playing the musical bow."<ref name=frerescavedate/><ref name=Garcia>{{cite web |url= http://algargosarte.blogspot.com/2014/10/el-arte-rupestre-paleolitico-en-las.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180902031447/http://algargosarte.blogspot.com/2014/10/el-arte-rupestre-paleolitico-en-las.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= 2 September 2018|title= EL ARTE RUPESTRE PALEOLÍTICO EN LAS CUEVAS FRANCESAS. LA CUEVA DE LASCAUX. |last=Garcia |first= Alfredo|date=5 October 2014 |website=algargosarte.blogspot.com |quote=[Concerning a pair of images below the text; the top image is a line drawing showing a herd of animals drawn over one another with the hunter and bow in the pack; the other image is a photo of the cave wall with that image, enhanced to show the hunter and animals directly in front of him distinctly:] En Les Trois Frères destacaría su estilo tan naturalista... Es famosa la escena que del hombre camuflado como un bisonte, ¿Un chamán o un cazador?, que persigue o conduce a otros animales y que he destacado del conjunto superpuesto de abajo.|trans-quote=In Les Trois Frères I would highlight his naturalistic style...The scene is famous, that of the man camouflaged to resemble a bison, (a shaman or a hunter?), that pursues or leads other animals, and that I have stood out from the set superimposed below...}}</ref><ref name=Walter>{{cite book |last= Walter |first= Eugene Victor|date= 1988|title= Placeways: A Theory of the Human Environment |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-cFXcXKI5tIC&q=%22musical+bow%22%2C+%22Trois+Fr%C3%A8res%22&pg=PA89|location= Chapel Hill, North Carolina|publisher=UNC Press Books |page=89 |isbn= 978-0-8078-1758-2 |quote=a semi-human figure dances in the midst of the animals...herding the beasts and playing a musical bow. He wears the head and fur of a bison with human legs... }}</ref> The artwork is confused, and those who are trying to reproduce the art in color have had to work to bring out legible images.<ref name=Garcia/><ref name=Walter/> One interpretation of the "magician-hunter" image considers his hunting-bow to be a musical bow, used as a single-stringed musical instrument.<ref name=Walter/><ref name=vanCampen>{{cite web | last1= Campen | first1 = Ank van| title= The music-bow from prehistory till today | url= http://www.harphistory.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=65&Itemid=17&lang=en | website= HarpHistory.info| access-date= March 26, 2015|quote=A cave-painting in the "Trois Frères" cave in France dating from about 15,000 years ago. The magician-hunter plays the musical bow.}}</ref>

Whether the bow in the cave illustration is a musical instrument or the hunting tool in a Paleolithic hunt, musicologists have considered whether the bow could be a possible relative or ancestor to the [[chordophone]]: the [[lute]], [[lyre]], [[harp]], and [[zither]] family. Curt Sachs said that there was good reason not to consider ''hunters' bows'' as likely musical bows.<ref name=bowtolute1>{{cite book |last=Sachs |first=Curt |date=1940 |title=The History of Musical Instruments |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmusical00sach|url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmusical00sach/page/56 56–57] |isbn=9780393020687 }}</ref> One reason was that the oldest known musical bows were 10 feet long, useless for hunting, and that "musical bows were not associated with hunters' beliefs and ceremonies."<ref name=bowtolute1/> Sachs considered the musical bows important, however. He pointed out that the name for the Greek lute, ''[[pandura]]'' was likely derived from ''pan-tur'', a Sumerian word meaning "small bow."<ref name=bowtolute>{{cite book |last=Sachs |first=Curt |date=1940 |title=The History of Musical Instruments |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmusical00sach|url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmusical00sach/page/136 136–137]|isbn=9780393020687 }}</ref> He considered this evidence in support of the theory that the musical bow was ancestral to the pierced lute.<ref name=bowtolute/>

The bows used for music required a resonator, a hollowed object like a bowl, a gourd, or a musician's mouth, in order to produce audible sound.<ref name=bowtolute1/> Although the musical bow could be manipulated to produce more than one tone, instruments were developed from it that used one note per string.<ref name=bowtolute1/><ref name=Dumbrillp179>{{cite book |last=Dumbrill |first=Richard J. |date=1998 |title=The Archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East |location=London |publisher=Tadema Press |pages=179, 231, 235–236, 308–310}}</ref> Since each string played a single note, adding strings added new notes for instrument families such as [[African harp|bow harps]], harps, and lyres.<ref name=Dumbrillp179/> In turn, this led to being able to play [[Dyad (music)|dyads]] and [[chord (music)|chords]].<ref name=Dumbrillp179/> Another innovation occurred when the bow harp was straightened out and a [[Bridge (instrument)|bridge]] used to lift the strings off the [[Neck (music)|stick-neck]], creating the lute.<ref>{{harvnb|Dumbrill|1998|pp=308–310}}</ref>
 
Musical bows are still used in a number of cultures today. It can be found as far south as [[Eswatini]], and as far east as eastern Africa, [[Madagascar]], and [[Réunion]]. and also outside of Africa, as in the case of [[berimbau]], [[malunga]] (derivations of the African musical bow) or the [[Appalachian mouth-bow]].

== Playing ways ==
The usual way to make the bow sound is to pluck the string, although sometimes a subsidiary [[bow (music)|bow]] is used to scrape the string, much as on a [[violin]]. The [[Onavillu]] of [[Kerala]] sounds when struck with a thin stick. Unlike string instruments used in [[european classical music|classical music]], however, they do not have a built-in resonator, although resonators may be made to work with the bow in a number of ways.

The most usual type of resonator consists of a [[gourd]] attached to the back of the string bearer. The bow may also be stood in a pit or gourd on the ground, or one end of it may be partially placed in the mouth. This last method allows the size of the resonator to be varied as the instrument is played, thus allowing a [[melody]] to be heard consisting of the [[Musical note|note]]s resonating in the player's mouth. As well as these various forms of resonators, the bow is frequently played without a resonator at all.

In Africa, the musical bow is usually played by a solo performer. In [[capoeira]], the berimbau is played as part of the roda, a musical group standing in a circle, in the centre of which the capoeiristas perform or play. The Appalachian mouth-bow can be played amplified in [[old-time music]] jams.

== In Africa ==
''See'': [[Uhadi musical bow]] ''See'':[[Umuduri]]
{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center
 | align = right
| image2 = Instrument musical traditionnel Burundais.jpg
 | width2 = 165
 | alt2 = Umuduri musical bow
 | caption2  =The [[Umuduri]] musical bow used in Burundi and Rhwanda is similar to the Uhadi bow of South Africa.

 | image1 = Jeune fille païenne jouant du thomo.jpg
 | width1 = 139
 | alt1 = musical bow
 | caption1 = The [[Uhadi musical bow|Uhadi]] or 'thomo' musical bow used by the [[Sotho people|Basotho]] people.
 | footer = Two bows in which the resonator is a gourd, attached to the instrument's center and pressed into the musician's chest or stomach. Both are sounded with a stick.
}}
Due to the nature of their construction and playing, musical bows are quiet instruments, therefore needing a resonator to resound. The resonator can either be a [[gourd]] (as in ''uhadi'', ''umakhweyana'', ''segankure'', ''xitende'', ''[[berimbau]]'', etc.) or the player's mouth (as in ''umrhubhe'', ''umqangala'', ''tshihwana'', ''xizambi'', etc.)

Musical bows are the main instruments of the [[Nguni people|Nguni]] and [[Sotho people|Sotho]] people, the predominant peoples of South Africa. Historians believe that many of the musical bows came from [[Khoisan]] peoples. Although there are many differences between musical bows, all of them share two things: a resonator, and at least two fundamental notes.

The strongest notes are the [[Fundamental frequency|fundamentals]], the deepest notes produced by the string, whereas the higher notes (the [[Harmonic series (music)#Partial|harmonic partials]]) are produced by the resonator.

There are at least two fundamental notes produced by all musical bows, an ''open'' (when the player does not shorten it or touch it) and a ''closed'' (where the string is shortened or stopped by the player's hand). In [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] they are called ''vu'' (from the word ''Vuliwe'', 'open') and ''ba'' (from ''Banjiwe'', 'held') respectively. These two notes can already be on the string, if it is divided or stopped by a string attached to the gourd, as in the case of ''umakhweyana'', ''xitende'', ''berimbau'', ''hungu'', etc. The pitch difference between a ''vu'' and a ''ba'' is usually about a [[Major second|whole tone]]. In certain places, it can be closer to a [[semitone]] (e.g. Zulu) or closer to a [[minor third]] (Tsonga).

Some of those instruments have more than two notes, for example the Zulu ''umakhweyana'' and the Tsonga ''xitende'' have three, whereas the Venda ''tshihwana'' has four.<ref name="christine">{{cite book |last=Lucia|first=Christine|date=2005|title=The World of South African Music: A Reader|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Press|page=239|isbn=9781904303367}}</ref>

=== Other names ===
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Twee Samo muzikanten bespelen de muziekboog TMnr 20010314.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Samo people|Samo]] musicians from the Upper Volta, [[Burkina Faso]] playing a musical bow, using their mouths as resonators. 1970–1971.]]
Musical bows are known by various names in the different languages of South Africa - some refer only to musical bows using gourds as resonators, others using the mouth:<ref name="christine"/><ref>{{cite web |url= http://dhost.info/etno/capoeira/musical.bow/musical-bow.htm|title=Musical Bow|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |access-date=2015-01-22}}</ref>

*[[Kele language (Gabon)|Akele]]: ''ngongo''
*[[Kimbundu]]: ''hungu''
*[[Nguni languages|Nguni]]: ''makhoyane''
*[[Pedi language|Pedi]]: ''lekope''
*[[Sotho language|S. Sotho]]: ''[[lesiba]]'', ''thomo'', ''setolotolo''
*[[Tepehuán language|Tepehuán]]: ''gat''
*[[Tswana language|Tswana]]: ''segankure''
*[[Tsonga language|Tsonga]]: ''xizambi'', ''xitende''
*[[Umbundu]]: ''ombulumbumba''
*[[Venda language|Venda]]: ''tshihwana'', ''lugube'', ''tshijolo''
*[[Xhosa language|Xhosa]]: ''uhadi'', ''umrhubhe'', ''umqunge'', ''inkinge''
*[[Zulu language|Zulu]]: ''umakhweyana'', ''ugubu'', ''umqangala'', ''umhubhe''<ref>{{cite journal|author-last=Dargie|author-first=Dave|editor-last=Oehrle|editor-first=Elizabeth |title= Magical Musical Bows|publisher = Digital Innovation South Africa |journal= The Talking Drum |issue =16 |date =September 2001 |url= http://disa.ukzn.ac.za/TALKING_DRUM}}</ref>
*[[!Kung languages|!Kung]]: ''m'bolumbumba''
*[[Lingala language|Lingala]]: ''tolo-tolo''
*umqangala

== In other places ==
[[File:Richard Nunns 22.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Richard Nunns]] playing a [[Māori music|Māori]] musical bow]]
The most popular musical bow today is the [[Brazil]]ian adaptation of the musical bow, the [[berimbau]], most commonly associated with the [[Capoeira#As a game|jogo de capoeira]].

[[Kse diev]], a gourd resonated "musical bow cum stick" whose [[String (music)|string]] is made out of [[copper]], is used in Cambodia and is considered one of the oldest Cambodian instruments, with bas-reliefs going back to the 12th century AD. Has been thought of as musical bow; under [[Hornbostel-Sachs]] classification, it is a "Musical bow cum stick" because it has only one curved end to flex.<ref name=system>{{cite journal |title= Classification of Musical Instruments: Translated from the Original German by Anthony Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann |author1-first= Erich M. |author1-last= von Hornbostel |author2-first=Curt |author2-last= Sachs |journal= The Galpin Society Journal |volume= 14 |date= March 1961| pages= 20–21 |doi= 10.2307/842168 |jstor=842168}}</ref> Under Hornbostel-Sachs, musical bows are defined as flexible and curved string bearers or as stick zithers with both ends flexible and curved.<ref name=system/>
 
[[Malunga]], a musical bow made of [[bamboo]], [[gut string]]s, and a [[coconut]] gourd is used by the [[Siddi]] people of [[India]], of African origin.

[[Belembaotuyan]] is found in Guam, probably introduced through trade between [[South America]] and [[Asia]] in the nineteenth century.

[[Bobre]], musical bow of [[Mauritius]] and [[Réunion]].

Kunkulkawe is the name of a musical bow found among the [[Mapuche]] people in [[Chile]] and [[Argentina]].

Piompirintzi is the name of a musical bow found among the [[Ashaninka]] people in Peru.

Latajkiaswolé is the name of a musical bow found among the [[Wichi]], [[Pilaga]], and other tribes of the [[Gran Chaco]] region of [[South America]].

In the [[United States]] a musical bow is primarily found in the [[Appalachian Mountains]], where it is called a "mouthbow" or "mouth bow".

In northwestern Mexico, the [[Tepehuán]] Indians of [[Durango]] use the musical bow during their mitote. The Tepehuán's musical bow has a gourd attached to it.

The [[kalumbu]] is played by the [[Tonga people (Zambia and Zimbabwe)|Tonga]] and [[Ila people|Ila]] people of [[Zambia]] and [[Zimbabwe]].

The ''ku'' is a [[Māori culture|Maori]] instrument from [[New Zealand]], made of [[Prumnopitys taxifolia|matai]] wood and a fibre string, and is tapped with a rod.<ref>{{cite book |last=Best|first=Elston|date=2005|title=Games and Pastimes of the Maori|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BesGame-t1-body-d9-d2-d5.html|pages=313–4|access-date=2015-01-22}}</ref>

The [[ukeke]] is a three-stringed musical bow from [[Hawaii]], played using the mouth as a resonating chamber.

The [[Yelatáj chos woley]] is a musical bow (played with another bow), from the [[Wichí]] culture of the Argentinian [[Gran Chaco]].

In the Caribbean, on the island of [[Curaçao]], the benta is a one-stringed musical bow, played using the mouth as a resonating chamber. Most probably brought to the island by Africans from Ghana, Angola, Nigeria during the slave trade, it is played as a leading instrument in "muzik di zumbi", ghost music (zumbi means ghost).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPb_i6VcOTw|title=Isocco Performance @ Curacao International Song Festival 1987|access-date=19 April 2021|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}</ref>
The name refers to the spooky atmosphere on the plantations since there was no electricity, and the hauling wind carries the sound of the music in all directions. 
It is mostly accompanied by drum, hoe and "wiri" (scraper of a serrated piece of iron). 
The Curaçaoan benta resembles the [[Brazil]]ian [[berimbao]], the [[India]]n [[malunga]], the [[Hawaiïan]] [[ukeke]], and string bows of several [[Africa]]n countries.

A variant called the "whizzing bow", which is swung with the arm in a circle is played in Central America, China, Indonesia, and west Africa.<ref>[https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000030238 Whizzing Bow]. [[Oxford Music Online]], published January 20, 2001.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Arched harp]]
*[[Ravanahatha]]
*[[Berimbau]]
*[[Malunga]]
*[[Belembaotuyan]]
*[[Jew's harp]]
*[[Idiophone|Idiophone instruments]]
*[[Washtub bass]]
*[[Benta (instrument)|Benta]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.noteworthyjohn.com/CaFMouthbow.htm History and playing instructions for the Appalachian mouthbow]
*[http://www.cradleboard.org/curriculum/powwow/supplements/mouthbow.html The Mouthbow – Making Music on a Weapon] by [[Buffy Sainte-Marie]] for the Cradleboard Teaching Project
*[http://sounds.bl.uk/world-and-traditional-music/Rycroft/025M-C0811X0103XX-3000V0 British Library, David Rycroft South Africa Collection: Musical bow lecture examples 1979: Zulu umakhweyana]
*[http://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Rycroft/025M-C0811X0095XX-1200V0 British Library, David Rycroft South Africa Collection: Guitar talk tape A: Umakhweyana musical bow solo]
*Muzik di zumbi, benta played by Issoco in Curaçao
*[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SPb_i6VcOTw Isocco Performance @ Curacao International Song Festival 1987]

{{Strings (music)}}
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[[Category:Zithers]]
[[Category:Musical bows| ]]
[[Category:African musical instruments]]
[[Category:Music of Africa]]
[[Category:Culture of Appalachia]]