who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ...

262ethnomusicologist in a popular Australian TV series to discuss musicalinstruments from different cultures, and some of my friends considerme an expert of musical instruments, my actual expertise in the sphereis quite limited.So why then I am going to go against my own principles and discuss here theinteraction between vocal and instrumental polyphony? There is only one reason for this.Because I believe instrumental polyphony can provide us with very usefulinformation about the history of vocal polyphony, information that we would unlikelyto receive from any other source.On one hand it seems natural, that the vocal and instrumental music of any givenculture must be interconnected in many robust and subtle ways – musical, psychological,social, historical, political. What we play on musical instruments must be closelyconnected to what we sing. On the other hand the links between the vocal andinstrumental polyphony is far from simple. Recognizing the complex nature of theinteraction between the vocal and instrumental polyphony, and the further need in thispromising sphere, I want to discuss here only the possible links between the vocalpolyphony and the blown polyphonic instruments.Looking at the different polyphonic types in my native Georgia, I noticed that thebagpipes from the different regions of Georgia were playing the same type of polyphonythat was characteristic for the vocal music of these regions. In Racha bagpipe was mostlyplaying the simple drone and ostinato figures, whereas in contrapuntal Achara bagpipeplayed more active polyphony. And on double Stviri in Kartli they play simple drone andostinato polyphony. Look at other cultures proved that this was not a unique occurrenceto Georgia, and that in many regions vocal polyphony and blown instrumental polyphonyare very close to each other. After Georgian ethnomusicologist Ketevan Nikoladze startedresearching the parallels between the polyphonic blown instruments and vocalpolyphony, these links became more obvious (Nikoladze, 1986, 2003).At least some of my colleagues would say that there is hardly anythingextraordinary in this fact. Yes, you can certainly see that on polyphonic double blowninstruments people often play the type of music they sing. The facts of the closeconnections between the double blown musical instruments and the tradition of vocalpolyphony were noted by scholars from different countries (see, for example, Kvitka,1973 for Russia, Kachulev, 1965 for Bulgaria; Tinurist, 1980 for Estonia; Rachienaite-Vychiniene, 2002 for Lithuiania, Nikoladze, 1986, 1986a, 2003 for Georgia. See alsoEmsheimer, 1964:43-44).Interestingly, the idea of the close relationship between the polyphony of blownmusical instruments (double and triple blown instruments) finds support in the regionswhere this correlation between the vocal polyphony and double blown instruments isostensibly not working. For example, double blown instruments are known amongCentral Asian peoples (Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmens), although their vocal traditions aremostly monophonic. To answer this question, we must take into account not only the factof the presence of double blown instrument per se (presence of two reeds), but theconstruction of the instrument and the type of music, played on these instruments.Central Asian double blown instruments play in unison, and unlike of many double