Do you know the Rabeca?

June 11, 2011 at 03:47 PM ·

I'm not familiar with this - nor what makes a rabeca a rabeca, distinguishing it from a viol.  the one on this page (from the Azores) is perhaps unusual in that it has no stem - so in essence you are (I presume) always playing in high positions ...

http://musicatradicional.no.sapo.pt/acores.html#Açores

June 11, 2011 at 03:50 PM ·

By the way, I have a Rebec made by a friend - which is I believe a distinct (and much older) instrument:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebec

June 11, 2011 at 08:31 PM ·

 Well, I know the rEbeca, she is my doughter. Sorry for the joke.

June 11, 2011 at 09:54 PM ·

i love this stuff:

www.youtube.com/watch

in terms of early (european) music, i think this is the music the hoi-poli were listening to ... dancing to ... and making.

June 12, 2011 at 12:21 AM ·

so is the rabec a decendant of the rebec that came to look like a violin or a violin that came to look like a rebec :)

June 12, 2011 at 01:38 AM ·

Murilo:

Thank you very much for posting about the rabeca.  I am really fascinated by the instruments we don't have here in North America, and there is an especially delightful variety in South America.  We have a charango, as does Bill K who also coincidentally posted to this thread.

In the second video, I see a cuatro as well. That's another instrument "endemic" to N.E. Brasil and Venezuela. Go up around the bend to Veracruz Mexico, and you find the Jarana, another small "ukulele" sized fretted instrument.

Interesting that I have heard that sort of music before and of course assumed that it was played on an ordinary violin.

Another coincidence: tonight we saw Silk Road and the fantastic soloist, Kayhan Kalhor, who plays the Persian spike fiddle known as the kamancheh. I instantly recognized it but couldn't remember the name, so searched it when we got home and here I find your post as well!

There are so many ways to make a bowed string instrument and every one of them has a sound worth exploring. Another couple I like very much are the chinese erhu and its Japanese cousin; also the sarangi of India; also the Mongolian spike fiddle, of which there are a variety.

The erhu uses silk strings! Many of the others use gut, and they sound so excellent!

June 12, 2011 at 03:36 AM ·

  Actually the Rabecas around here are stringed with almost any common material found in the popular "feiras" (markets), but mostly with what we call "arame", a metalic string used to make rural fences for animals. But gut is also used.

Bill, if you say you like the subject I presume you would want to get to know other instruments. Here's another one, an instrument made of a wooden tube, similar to a flute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sCsv6Iamek&feature=related

It's called a PÍFANO (strong syllable is the PÍ, and the A is pronounced quite nasally because of the subsequend N). The video says: "With love, work and dedication, you can conquer every single thing in the world. Nothing is difficult for those who know where they want to go. Nothing is impossible. Put faith on your dream, and it's gonna be alive.". I don't know if this is from a whole movie, so I don't know the origin of such text.

If anybody is interested, Brazil also has numerous composers of orchestral/chamber music. We're not just Villa-Lobos! I could start a topic on that. Maybe I will, but tomorrow, it's past midnight and I gotta go to the mass very early! ;)

And REbeca is also my neighbor, it's a very common girls name around here too.

Thanks everybody!