http://inthegapbetween.free.fr/pierre/GAMBUS_PROJECT/99d_ud_lute_indonesia.pdf
MIDDLE - EASTERN INFLUENCES IN INDONESIAN GAMBUS
The Gambus lute designation nowadays took an unexplicit acception in the indonesian archipelago, since the word became synonymous of “middle east-like lute” there. If the word is certainly rooted in the Yemeni name “Qanbus”, according to the homonymous lute of the Sana’an plateau, for sure, every current Indonesian avatars now embody various designs. Surely, central Java and Malaysian Mainland have to be considered separately, since they are more involved in the Globalization from the mid-20th century…Three main categories of Gambus coexist Malaysia and Indonesia: 1. - Gambus Hijaz, a monoxyle, long necked lute. Now rare and hardly survives reportedly in some remote areas, such as Johor state, Sarawak (near Kuching), Sabah (Semporna, Papar, Bongawan), Kalimantan ( as the panting lute) and Bengkalis, Penyengat, Indera Giri, Riau, Jambi, & Medan. 2 - Gambus Hadramawt, a.k.a. « Gambus Johor », an oud-like lute.. This is famous in peninsular Malaysia as the « Gambus Johor », as this is appreciated there still when performing local avatars of the Ghazal musical performance. This mostly can be found still in Johor state, Brunei, Sabah, Java , Sumatra, Madura, Sulu. 3- Bruneian monoxyle Gambus Seludang is a local crossover design family in Brunei and Sabah. Though often named “Gambus Hijaz “ , the bruneian making of “Seludang feature the typical 100% wooden soundboard - unlike the existing Gambus Hijaz and Gambus Hadramawt families. We describe the relevant process in the document named “process_malay_gambus_Vx.pdf. Anyhow the acception of the term « Seludang » highly varies between Riau and Brunei - Sabah. Now on the way to extinction in many places, the Gambus Hijaz lute is still (seldom) accompanying Zapin / Jepen dance (Ar. Zafin, a dance genre from Hadhramawt, still widespread in Sawt-like sessions in the Gulf countries) plus some theatrical avatars, such as the Hamdolok , the Zapin Banjar and the Mamanda. Considering that Johore’s Ghazal music now substituted Gambus Hijaz lute with oud in continental Malaysia, the relevant regional musical avatars for Zafin & Gambus Hijaz are nowadays Hamdolok (Batu Pahat), Tingkilan (Kutai tribesmen, south Kalimantan), Dana-dana ( Sulawesi), and Panting-Banjar ( south Kalimantan).
THE CASE OF THE GAMBUS HADHRAMAWT The name “Gambus Hadhamawt” used to hint about the introduction of the middle easter oud in Malaysia. Possibly this name dates back to the late migrations of the Hadhrami in the alam melayu, and marks a distinction between this modern lute and the earlier Yemeni lute – namely “Gambus Hijaz” - in there, when we consider this latter name as a distinction between each other.
Having said that, the local lutery of such oud lute in Malaysia / Indonesia is a subject of amazing diversity, much more than it used to be in the Middle East. 1. The “middle-eastern” rib construction is nowadays found in Johore, Batu Pahat, West-Jawa, East-Sumatra, Brunei and Sabah. In Jawa, such local production used to face mass-import items from Egypt. Indeed, such refined lutery art can be found, and many Javanese makers even reached an industrial capacity. Sometimes, the structure suffered then some dramatical simplifications, such as stylized pegboxes, local variant of the rose / soundboard pattern or a cut of the soundbox ribs ( down to 5, instead 13-17 in the middle east). The phenomenon is named “Gitar arap” or “Gitar Gambus” rather than “Gambus Hadhramawt”. 2. In another hand, we observe another obvious influence of the monoxyle construction in Indonesia, which was incidentally extended to some local oud-like lutes in some remote area, namely in Medan, South Sulawesi, South Kalimantan, Brunei & Sabah. In Brunei and Sabah, such oud-like Gambus locally belong to the ambivalent family of the Gambus Seludang. 3. The modern evolution of the “orkes gambus” in the urban area naturally meets the microphones, as a widespread solution for public performance. So, little by little, such flat or flat-boxed, electric ouds are now found anywhere. 4. Another influence of the middle-eastern lutery is very, very marginal. Some very few makers in Kalimantan borrowed structure features from the persian setar, the indian sitar or even the traditional kemancheh / biola.
As a musical instrument construction, the “Gitar Gambus” turned to an amazing exercise of popular lutery, especially in Jawa. In parallele, the variant of the Oud in Kalimantan and Medan can be held as adistinctive and unexpected avatar.
Mixing up the DNA of the yemeni qanbus with the later oud’s Panting-Gambus (Banjarmasin, S. Kalimantan).
Mixing up the DNA of the yemeni qanbus with the later oud’s. Gambus lute in Sintang (W. Kalimantan)
Mixing up the DNA of the yemeni qanbus with the later oud’s Gambus lute of the Bruneians (Kota Belud, Sabah)
Mixing up the DNA of the yemeni qanbus with the later oud’s. Gambus lute in Sintang (Kotawaringin Barat, S. Kalimantan)
A MARGINAL INFLUENCE OF THE ”CELLO” CONSTRUCTION Referring to its local name, or biola, the cello was introduced in Indonesia, possibly from the time of the early Portuguese settlements, in the 16th century. Anyhow, the instrument first could not be held as a mainstream one in there, as long as it didn’t sound properly in some “foreign” musical genres. In one hand, the traditional viele ( i.e. the previous biola, a local avatar of the middle-eastern kemancheh) was still preferred among the “indonesian” Malays, and in another hand the instrument hardly matched with the sonorities of the previous music, such as the gong musics and gamelan of the previously “hinduist” area ( Jawa, Bali). Musics speaking, the instrument get more attractive with the acculturation of some imported musical genres, such as Theater Parsi, Abdoel Molok, the dutch variety, the middle-eastern Zapin and the later Tarab. For example, the case of such “western” biola in the local music of Bima (NTB) is noticeable, as this instrument is now the backbone of the local “gambo” music. The surviving lutery is the fact of unexpected opportunities in some remote areas, especially when we consider remote areas such as Timur (NTT) and Bima (NTB)… Amazingly, a western-like, but traditional cello lutery art (biola) can be observed in some remote area of indonesia, such as Bima (Sumbawa), Lombok, Sulawesi and Timur, which possibly dates back to several generations. This traditional lutery and the instrument design adapted with the local conditions, and their standard are now very far from what we observe in the West. In parallele, in the 20th century, standard fiddles are imported from te West, copied and distributed in the main cities of Java. As a lutery art, the cello had also an unexpected influence of the Gambus lute making, when the maker carri-over some typical features of this chordophon in the manufacturing of the gambus lute! 1. Mostly, this influence is noticeable in the traditional carving art of the pegbox. So far, we can observe the pattern of the cello pegbox among various traditional lute makers, in Indera Giri (south Riau, Sumatra), North Sulawesi, Lombok and Bima (NTB). Basically, this design is very widespread and this sometimes turns to a very stylized leaf pattern, or a simple disc, or even a hook shape… 2. The influence sometimes hit the soundbox construction itself, namely the technology of the thin soundboard and its related S-shaped outlets. We observe this very seldom, for example in central Kalimantan, south Kalimantan and Sabah.
GITAR GAMBUS MEETS GITAR In the modern music of Indonesia, a variety of gambus lutes are still played. In one hand, the features of the early constructions, either Gambus Hijaz, or Gambus Hadramawt, are subject of a plenty of simplification. Lutery speaking, the pen-like pegs are much disputed because of their lack of accuracy, so, the guitar pegs may be fit instead sometimes. The traditional shapes of the middle-eastern pegbox proved to be difficult to manufacture, comparing to guitar’s or fiddle’s. Then the roses and the stylized soundboards are facing a plenty of variants, whan the Indonesian lutemakers did experience vintage instruments from the Middle-east! One can even observe some drawn frets, when the lute playing doesn’t require any hardware fret. Possibly this occurred randomly, but the name Gitar Gambus finally justifies the emergence of such crossover instrument, when borrowing so many features of the western guitar... Basically, the gitar gambus is complying less with a technical improvement than the requirements of the mass production. Indeed, demanding lute players can experience some sharper lutery. Middle-eastern imports are still welcome, and some local avatars also meet a proper know-how. . In another hand, one can observe sometimes a later influence of the Gambus construction on the mainstream guitar lutery. This latter effect is marginal, and we can observe it at maker Irawan ROBITHAH (Pekanbaru, Riau province), with an obvious borrowing of the oud’s rose , and a customization of the guitar soundbox.
About wood-boarded Gambus lute making, see alternate file http://inthegapbetween.free.fr/pierre/process_malay_gambus_seludang_wooden_v8.pdf
Artist AbdolWahab (Bima, Sumbawa): playing a fiddle-shaped Gambo, actually
A Gambus lute in Samarinda (E. Kalimantan).
A wide Gambus lute ( Sabah) .
Amazing fretted Gambus lute (Sabah)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abdoun, Seifed-Din Shehadeh, « The oud, the king of arabic instruments », ISBN ???? , Arabila production Publ., 100 p., Washington DC(USA) / Irbid (Jordan), 1996. Introduction and playing course. ( i) Ashari, Mohammad, interview, lutemaker. Firdowsi Bazaar, Bandar Qeshm , Hormuzgan, 2007 Hakim, T Lukman, « Ciri Khas Bedeleau Gambus » in Bedeleau.com website , Riau Sumatra, 2012 Hilarian, Larry Francis, « The Gambus lute of the malay World », pH D. , Nanyang Technical University of Singapore, Singapore, 2004. (e) Hilarian, Larry Francis, « The gambus (lutes) of the malay World : its origins and significance in Zapin Music », Nanyang Technical University of Singapore, Singapore, 2005. A concise Synthesis about the Hypothetic Origins of the Instrument (p) Hilarian, Larry Francis, « The migration of Lute type instruments to the Malay Muslim World » in Congrés des musiques dans le monde l ‘Islam, Assilah, August 8-13, 2007. about importing Gambus to the muslim world ( p ) Hilarian, Larry Francis, « The folk lute (gambus) and its symbolic expression in malay muslim culture » in Folklore studies # XXIII , Institute of lituanian literature and folklore, Vilnius, 2006. ( p ) Hilarian, Larry Francis, « Understanding malay music theory through the performance of the malay lute (gambus) » in Music Journal # 4 , Malaysia, 2008. ( p) Hilarian, Larry Francis, « The structure and development of the gambus (malay lute) » in the Galpin society Journal # LVIII , Malaysia?, 2005. ( p) Nariman, Mansur, « The method of Playing the Lute », Soroush Publ, ISBN 964-376-291-2, Tehran, 2005. Iran. ( g ) Mading blog: “Dambus : Alunan Indah Dari Negeri Serumpun Sebalai “ a weblog about the maker ZAROTI at Pangkalpinang, Bangka Isl Indonesia , January 2014 http://madingpgri.blogspot.fr/2014/01/liputanbudaya-daerah.html
Malay name of the components , drawing and data from Larry Francis HILARIAN
GAMBUS LUTE – SHAPING THE PEGBOX / “FLOWER” / “NAGA” PATTERN 01
02
03
04
05
06
Variations on the deco pattern of the bird. ITEMS n°02 (Kutai, E. Kalimantan), n°03-04 (Sarawak) , n° 05 (Brunei), n°05 (Bongawan) 07
08
09
10
11
12
Variations on the deco pattern of the bird. ITEMS n° 07 (Tanjung, Kalimantan), n° 10 (Malai Osman Ali, Papar), n° 08,09 (Bongawan) , n°11 (Kalimantan)
13
GAMBUS & PANTING LUTES – FRONT / SOUNDBOARD 1
2
3
4
5
6
11
12
ITEMS N°1,3 (central Kalimantan?) , n°5-6 by the kutai (Samarinda). 7
8
ITEMS N°07-08 (Sabah), n°09 (Sepauk, W. Kalimantan).
9
10
UD LUTE (MIDDLE EAST) – SHAPING THE SOUNDBOX 01
02
03
04
05
06
07
10
11
12
ITEMS n°01 (Armenia) , n°02 (Turkey), n°03-04 (Egypt), n°05-06 (Syria), n°07 (Irak) 07
08
08
09
ITEMS n° 07, 08 (Egypt), n°06 (Syria), n°12 : creation by Cengiz & Veysel Sarikus (Malatya, Turkey)
GAMBUS LUTE (INDONESIA, MALAYSIA) 13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Variations on the deco pattern of the bird. N°03-06 (Sarawak) 20
21
22
23
24
25
Variations on the deco pattern of the bird. ITEMS n° 07 (Brunei), n°08 (Sarawak), n° 10 (Malai Osman Ali, Papar), n° 11 (Awang Pesar, Bongawan)
26
GAMBUS LUTE (INDONESIA) 27
28
29
30
31
32
37
38
Flat gambus (“slim oud”) ITEMs 27-32 from Medan, Deli Serdang, North Sumatra 33
34
35
36
Flat gambus (“slim oud”) ITEMs n°33 (Sukamara, S. Kalimantan), n°37-38 from Medan, Deli Serdang, North Sumatra
GAMBUS & “PANTING GAMBUS” LUTE (BORNEO) 01
02
03
04
05
06
07
ITEMS n°03 (Farhul ANWAR), n°02 (Yoggiyakarta), n° 30 (Masdar HIDAYAT) , n°01,, 05 (R. SYIR HAYATI), n°06 (ALPIAN, Haruyan), n° 07 (Norman Gambus, Kotabaru) 08
09
10
11
12
13
14
ITEMS n° 08- (West Sabah), n°09-10 (Awang Pesar, Bongawan), n° 12 (Banjarmasin, S. Kalimantan) , n° 11, 13-14 (Norman Gambus, Kotabaru, S. Kalimantan
GAMBUS LUTE (BORNEO) 01
02
03
04
05
06
07
ITEMS n°02-04 n° 10 (Malai Osman Ali, Papar), n° 04,05, 07 (West Sabah), n°05 (Sepauk, W. Kalimantan), n°06 (Banjarmasin, S. Kalimantan) 08
09
10
11
12
ITEMS n° 08 (Norman Gambus, Kotabaru, S. Kalimantan) , n° 10-14 (Awang Pesar, Bongawan)
13
14
FROM THE UD TO THE “GITAR GAMBUS”
The Pandolin ( Banjarmasin) is a fretted variant of the Panting / Gambus.
Gambus lute soundboard in (Bongawan, Sabah)
A wide Gambus lute ( Sabah) .
Gambus lute soundboard in (Jawa)
THE GITAR GAMBUS : AVATAR OF THE MIDDLE EASTERN LUTES
“Panting Gambus” lute soundbox (maker SYIR HAYATI, Banjar, S. Kalimantan)
Some few Gambus borrow elements from the Persian kemancheh. (bottom: Rashiya SYIR HAYATI (Banjar), top: Norman (Kota Baru))
“Panting Gambus” lute soundbox (maker SYIR HAYATI, Banjar, S. Kalimantan)
Gambus maker Norman (Kota Baru) borrows elements from middleeastern Ud lute.
THE GITAR GAMBUS : AVATAR OF THE MIDDLE EASTERN LUTES
Gambus player Meghat MUZHAFAR
Gambus player Mehdi Mahaba
Gambus player Awanx OEILSOLAN ( Jawa) .
Gambus maker Nasrullah (Pekanbaru).
THE GITAR GAMBUS : AVATAR OF THE MIDDLE EASTERN LUTES
Gambus player Meghat MUZHAFAR
Gambus player Mehdi Mahaba
A wide Gambus lute ( Jawa) .
Gambus maker Nasrullah (Pekanbaru).
THE GITAR GAMBUS : AVATAR OF THE MIDDLE EASTERN LUTES
Gambus lute pegbox (maker Norman, Kota Baru, South Kalimantan)
Some few Gambus borrows elements from indian sitar (top: Rashiya SYIR HAYATI (Banjar), bottom: Norman (Kota Baru))
Borrowed from persian Tar lute (Masdar HIDAYAT (Banjar))
Wooden incrustations in a Gambus neck by maker Irawan Robithah (Pekanbaru)
BORROWING GUITAR STRUCTURES FOR GAMBUS
Raja ZULKARNAIN (Kuala Lumpur): Gambus, actually designed by Dr. Cengiz & Veysel Sarikus (Malatya, Turkey).
Gitar-designed gambus by unknown maker (east Jakarta )
Muhammad SYUFIAN posing with a gambus (Sukamara, S. Kalimantan)
BORROWING CELLO STRUCTURES FOR GAMBUS 01
02
03
04
ITEM n001 (early lutery by the Kutai, E. Kalimantan), n°02-04 (Indra Giri, Riau) 05
06
07
ITEM n°05-06 (Lombok, NTB), n°07 (Manado, N. Sulawesi), n°08 (Toli-Toli, N. Sulawesi)
08
Gambus (Sanggau, W. Kalimantan) & Pandolin ( Kalimantan)
WHEN GUITAR BORROWS THE UD/GAMBUS FEATURES
Gitar soundboard by Irawan ROBITHAH (Pekanbaru, Riau)
Gitar soundboard by Irawan ROBITHAH (Pekanbaru, Riau)
Gitar soundboard by Irawan ROBITHAH (Pekanbaru, Riau)
Gitar back by Irawan ROBITHAH (Pekanbaru, Riau)
