Sintir
Encyclopedia
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
plucked lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
used by the Gnawa
Gnawa
The Gnawa people originated from North and West Africa; to be precise the ancient Ghanaian Empire of Ouagadougou .This name Gnawa is taken from one of the indigenous languages of the Sahara Desert called Tamazight...
people. It is approximately the size of a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, with a body carved from a log and covered on the playing side with camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
. The camel skin has the same acoustic function as the membrane on a banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
. The neck is a simple stick with one short and two long goat strings that produce a percussive sound similar to a pizzicato
Pizzicato
Pizzicato is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of stringed instrument....
cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
or double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
.
The goat gut strings
Strings (music)
A string is the vibrating element that produces sound in string instruments, such as the guitar, harp, piano, and members of the violin family. Strings are lengths of a flexible material kept under tension so that they may vibrate freely, but controllably. Strings may be "plain"...
are plucked downward with the knuckle side of the index finger
Index finger
The index finger, , is the first finger and the second digit of a human hand. It is located between the first and third digits, between the thumb and the middle finger...
and the inside of the thumb
Thumb
The thumb is the first digit of the hand. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position , the thumb is the lateral-most digit...
. The hollowed canoe shaped wooden body resonates a percussive tone created by knuckles slapping the camel neck top of the body while the thumb and index finger are plucking the strings.The lowest string on the sintir is a drone note and the second string, the highest in pitch, is tuned an octave higher and is never fretted. The third string is tuned a fourth above the drone. The buzzing sound often heard emanating from the sintir is caused by metal rings dangling off of a galvanized metal feather mounted on the end of the sintir's neck. The feather and rings vibrate in rhythm with the sintir.
The body of the instrument is hollowed out from a single piece of wood, and covered with camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
skin. The long neck passes through the top of the body and runs under the face, coming out through the skin near the base of the instrument, to serve as a tailpiece or string-carrier. The sliding leather tuning rings and the rattle-like metal sound modifier are commonly found in such West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
n instruments as the kora
Kora (instrument)
The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa.-Description:A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge. It does not fit well into any one category of western instruments and would have to be...
and the xalam
Xalam
Xalam, also spelled khalam, is the Wolof name for a traditional stringed musical instrument from West Africa. The xalam is thought to have originated from modern-day Mali, but some believe that, in antiquity, the instrument may have originated from ancient Egypt...
(lute). The percussive playing style is reminiscent not only of West African technique but also of certain styles of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
picking.
As the sintir is used mainly by Gnawa (North Africans of Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
n descent), it is likely that the instrument derives from similar skin-covered lutes of the region around Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
or other areas of the Sahel
Sahel
The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas in the south.It stretches across the North African continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea....
(such as the ngoni
Xalam
Xalam, also spelled khalam, is the Wolof name for a traditional stringed musical instrument from West Africa. The xalam is thought to have originated from modern-day Mali, but some believe that, in antiquity, the instrument may have originated from ancient Egypt...
, xalam
Xalam
Xalam, also spelled khalam, is the Wolof name for a traditional stringed musical instrument from West Africa. The xalam is thought to have originated from modern-day Mali, but some believe that, in antiquity, the instrument may have originated from ancient Egypt...
, or hoddu).
Styles
Sintirs are usually applied to different styles of music:Tagnawit: is the music of the Gnawa
Gnawa
The Gnawa people originated from North and West Africa; to be precise the ancient Ghanaian Empire of Ouagadougou .This name Gnawa is taken from one of the indigenous languages of the Sahara Desert called Tamazight...
people. The Guembri they use is the biggest: a long body rectangular in shape. There is a hole in the skin at the bridge area for enhanced acoustics. Three strings are used, two that reach the end of the neck, and one that reaches the middle. The two strings are tuned in fourths and are fixed to the circular neck using a special knotting. How the strings stay in tune is a mystery that only the Gnawa hold the secret for. The shorter string, which is also thinner, is tuned like the lowest string and is considered a drone string. Depending on the area where the Gnawa Zaouia
Zaouia
A zaouia or zawiya is an Islamic religious school or monastery. The term is Maghrebi and West African, roughly corresponding to the Eastern term madrassa...
(shrine) is located, there are different keys to the tuning
Musical tuning
In music, there are two common meanings for tuning:* Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice.* Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases.-Tuning practice:...
. The most common ones however are C, F, D and G. When the Gnawa are clapping and not playing with the Krakebs
Krakebs
Krakebs or garagab ) are large metal castanet-like musical instruments which are the primary rhythmic component of Gnawa music. They are used primarily in Morocco and Algeria and are considered to be a hypnotic instrument, allowing people to be engulfed in a trance-like state....
(a form of castanets), it is not uncommon to add a piece of metal that rings when the Guembri is played (Sersar). The plucking of the strings is done with the thumb and/or the index, and sometimes the player hits the body under the strings for a percussive sound. The Gnawa player who plays with the Guembri is called the Maalem, Master of Ceremonies. The Gnawa also refer to the Guembri as Hajhouj or Sintir. The most popular Guembri players in traditional and popular music are Abderrahmane Paco, Mahmoud Gania, Mustapha Baqbou, Hassan Hakmoun
Hassan Hakmoun
Hassan Hakmoun is a Los Angeles-based Moroccan Gnawa musician.-Early life:Hakmoun was born to a family of musicians who introduced him to the musical world of the Gnawa. By age four, he performed alongside snake charmers and fire-breathers on Marrakech streets. His mother is known throughout the...
, Hajjoub Soudani, and Hamid al Kasri.
Izlan s Tamazight: sung poetry by the Berbers of the Middle Atlas
Middle Atlas
The Middle Atlas is part of the Atlas mountain range lying in Morocco, a mountainous country with more than 100,000 km² or 15% of its landmass rising above 2,000 metres. The Middle Atlas is the northernmost of three Atlas Mountains chains that define a large plateaued basin extending eastward...
and High Atlas
High Atlas
High Atlas, also called the Grand Atlas Mountains is a mountain range in central Morocco in Northern Africa.The High Atlas rises in the west at the Atlantic Ocean and stretches in an eastern direction to the Moroccan-Algerian border. At the Atlantic and to the southwest the range drops abruptly...
. It has a body the size of a lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
or mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, but the neck is usually longer and thicker. Unlike the Gumebri of Gnawa, this one has wooden tuners. There are usually four strings (although five is not unusual) tuned in fourths as well. Common tunings are A standard or C standard. It is played similar to a lute, however it has its own tonal range, scales and key progressions that are particular to the Berbers. The main artist plays the lute and sings, accompanied by bendir
Bendir
The bendir is a frame drum used as a traditional instrument throughout North Africa. Unlike the tambourine, it has no jingles but most often has a snare stretched across its head, which when the drum is struck with the fingers or palm gives the tone a buzzing quality.The bendir is a frame drum...
players and backing singers which can include both men and women. To the Berbers, this type of Guembri is more widely known as Loutar. Popular Loutar players are Mohamed Rouicha
Mohamed Rouicha
Mohamed Rouicha is a famous Moroccan folk art singer. His songs are about love, roots, and daily Moroccan life. Rouicha is originally from the Atlas region and appears on Moroccan national TV stations and music festival and is very active in recordings....
, Hammou Oulyazid, Hajjaoui and Maghni.
Malhoun: sung poetry in Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
colloquial Arabic (Darija
Darija
Darija is the group of Arabic dialects spoken by Maghrebi Arabic speakers. It is only used for oral communication, with Modern Standard Arabic used for written communication...
). It is similar to Lotar in shape, but much smaller in size. It is not used as the main string instrument; rather it is used to provide timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
contrast to the music. It is sometimes called Gounibri as well.
External links
- Gnawaa artists can be found on the National Geographic website at: http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/gnawaa_724