Any idea what instrument this is?

[Tweedbox]

Hey guys, scoring a documentary and am trying to figure out what intruments these guys are playing. Burma, circa 1950's.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g273/tweedbox/Burmaproject.jpg

Anyone got any ideas?! Many thanks!

Tweed!

[dinosound]

Looks to me like a "Cheng", I think that's how you spell it. I have recorded and used some on projects in the past although they didn't have the mouth piece. You would blow directly into the part that they are fingering. It's sounds vaguely like an accordion because of the vibrating reed system that they both use.

Cheers,
D.

[shnurgle]

Ah yes, the Fagellocello; also known as the "Wet Left" (in Malta), or the "Dillaphone" (in some sections of Eastern Europe). The 'cello is about as old as an instrument can get--dating back to ancient Sumerian civilization. Still used today in Middle-Eastern and Eurasian folk music, the "Fagel" is characterized by it's foul smell, near-impossible embouchure requirments, and gut-wrenching squeaks and squawks which Stravinsky once described as "sounds never intended to be heard by man, except perhaps, within the darkest recess of his subconscious, where the line between good and evil draws ever grayer, and the difference between hope and utter dispair is about as vague as the tonal shifts in my Danse Sacrale" (paraphrasing).

The Fagellocello has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity due to recent film scores (Harold Faltermeyer comes to mind), and has been featured on numerous Euro-pop albums over the last two decades--most notably, Yngwie Malmsteen's 1986 orchestral/rock shredfest: "Pardon Me Miss, I Believe You Dropped Your Virginity on the Floor."

In a 1970 interview for a local USC radio station Elmer Bernstien commented:
"I have very few 'hard-and-fast rules' when it comes to composing music--especially film music. But, I do have one or two, and one of these rules is regarding that Old Testiment abomination called the 'Wet Left,' and my rule is: 'never use it. Not under any circumstances. Period.'"

[Josta]

Actually, with all due respect to Shnurg, I believe the gentlemen are playing the Piscaderlo, a multi-shaft fishing rod and flute of Laotian origin that was adopted by the Burmese during the WWII era. The young man on the left appears to be playing an alto version, the central figure a tenor. It is easily confused with a Fagellocello, particularly in a grainy black-and-white photograph.

The piscaderlo is one of the few musical instruments primarily employed to catch food. The long tubes are crafted of either brass or petrified wild hog intestine. (Hogs from the forests of Pegu are especially prized for their resonant entrails.) The pipes are tuned to an arcane scale based on base-16 arithmetic which produces beat frequencies that mimic the subsonic mating calls of local freshwater fish, in particular the prized armored stickleback, Jullien's golden carp, and of course, the Mekong giant catfish.

The fishermusicians typically work in trios: they first wade into shallow water to surround and lure schools of fish, then charm them into a hypnotic daze and quickly switch their piscaderlos from wind instrument to blowgun mode (by means of an ingenious rotating mouthpiece connector), finally releasing a fusillade of bamboo quills through the pipes, securing their and their families' dinner for the evening.

Apparently, the combined effect of pipes, breath and impact of the darts with the water creates a sound that haunts the listener long into the multicourse fish dinner that ensues.

Joe

P.S. If you look closely, the fisherflutist on the left appears just to be switching his instrument to blowgun mode: probably as a very funny joke on the man with his back to the camera, who is wisely stepping quickly away.

[shnurgle]

LOL...oh yes. Gold.

[Counterpoint]

Hi Tweedbox,

I agree with Dinosound, It looks like a variant of the Hulusheng:

[link url=http://www.patmissin.com/history/hulusheng.html]http://www.patmissin.com/history/hulusheng.html[/url]

In general it's categorized as a "mouth organ".

I think your thread has turned into a creative writing contest! :D

Cheers,

- Matt

[Counterpoint]

the "Fagel" is characterized by it's foul smell

You forgot to mention that it was to be used in Bellini's final opera "Mio Cammello è Puzzolente", that unfortunately spontaneously combusted before it was ever performed.

It was supposed to be one of the first multi-sensory operas.

- Matt

[Josta]

I think your thread has turned into a creative writing contest! :D


Man, life is a creative writing contest.

J

[shnurgle]

I love this town.

[Ecliptic]

Hey guys, scoring a documentary and am trying to figure out what intruments these guys are playing. Burma, circa 1950's.

They're not instruments players!
They are cleaning the gun's barrels of the British Army.

Cheers