ALAT MUZIK BAMBU

DRUMS

Usually found in gong ensemble. They produce a distinctive rhythmic musical pattern, leading to the festive dances which they accompany an air of urgency or heightened sense of excitement as the case may be.

Single-headed drums come mainly from the interior. For example, the tontog of the Rungus or the karatung of the Tambunan Kadazan Dusuns.

Double headed drums are found in coastal areas as well as the interior, for example, the gandang of the bajau. The membranes covering the drumheads used to be made of goat or deer skin, or cowhide.

  

TONGKUNGON

Prevalent mainly amongst the Kadazan Dusun in Tambunan, Penampang and Tuaran. It is made from a large bamboo tube with thin strips cut in its surface to form its strings, which can be tuned with tiny pieces of wood/ cane at each end of the tongkungon. The names and number of this string correspond to the main gongs.

Though it is mainly played solo and for personal entertainment, its music can accompany dance in the absence of gong ensembles.

SUNDATANG

A long-necked strummed lute found amongst Dusunic peoples. It is made of jackfruit wood two or three brass strings.

The sundatang of the Penampang Kadazan Dusun, the Lotud-Dusun (who call it gagayan) and the Rungus are more widely played than that of the Kadazan Dusuns of Tambunan. The Tambunan sundatang has a small body and a neck over one metre long.

It can be played for personal entertainment or as a dance accompaniment (in the Tambunan magarang and in Tuaran where it is sometimes played in pairs).

 

AEROPHONES: Instruments with a column of air within a cylinder or cone. The sound is produced when this air is vibrate by the player’s lips or nose or a single/double reed or by air passing across the top of the tube. Sabah’s aerophones are mainly played solo and for personal pleasure.

SULING

 

Short bamboo mouth flute brown from the end with fives holes ( Tambunan ) or six holes (Penampang). The sound produced is soothing.

  

TURALI Bamboo Nose flute

This is common to Dusunic communities. The Tambunan Kadazan Dusuns call it turali or turahi whilst in Penampang, it is called tuahi. It is widely played for personal entertainment, except in Penampang and the central part of Tambunan where it expresses grief after a death.

The story behind the origin of the turali is that once upon a time there was a man who had 7 sons and no daughters. When both parents died due to some illness, the sons were very grieved. However, as men and warriors, they could not cry. To express their great sorrow and grief for the death of their parents, they made and played the turali.
 

BUNGKAU Bungkau Jew’s Harp (Uriding, Lotud-Dusuns) is widely found throughout Sabah. Made from polod palm wood. It is small and is held between the teeth. Its central lamella vibrates when the end of the instrument is hit. The sound is then resonated by the mouth to produce a wide spectrum of sounds. It is versalite as a device to attract edible lizards, in farewell and battle songs, for post rice harvesting celebrations and to imitate gong ensemble music.  SOMPOTON    Traditional this was from Kampung Tikolod, Tambunan. It is now prevalent among Dusuns and some Muruts. It is made of a double raft of eight bamboo pipes inserted into a gourd. Inside the gourd seven of the pipes have small polod palm lamellae or sodi inserted into their sides and kept in place by beeswax ofr sopinit. The eighth soundless pipe is stopped up with sopinit. The player blows and sucks air through the gourd mouthpiece to activate the sodi. The musical sound produced can be likened to a cross between the sounds from a conventional mouth organ and a bagpipe, minus the latters’ shrillness. Often it is played solo, for personal expression.