The Uhadi, a musical bow, is a traditional Southern African

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

musical instrument. It is a large unembraced

musical bow The musical bow (bowstring or string bow, a subset of bar zithers) is a simple string instrument used by a number of South African peoples, which is also found in the Americas via slave trade. It consists of a flexible, usually wooden, stick ...

which is attached to a

resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a reson ...

and played by percussion. The length of the string bow ranges from 115 to 130 centimeters. Similar musical bows in

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number ...

include the ‘’thomo’’ in Sotho music and the ‘’ugubhu’’ in Zulu music.

History

The earliest description of the use of the uhadi among the isiXhosa was in 1815 by the scholar James Campbell: ‘The women have a calabash hung to a bow string, on which they beat and sing in harmony with the beating. The words they use are the names of friends, rivers and places they can recollect, having no songs.’ Although this description was inaccurate, as it did not describe the strings, it was most likely describing the uhadi musical bow as there is no evidence of any other Xhosa musical bow using a

calabash Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean, Tasmania bean, and opo squash, is a vine grown for its fruit. It can be either harvested young to be consumed ...

as resonator. Traditionally the uhadi musical bow is an instrument which was mostly played by married women however, occasionally men and children play it. Most Uhadi players learn through observing other uhadi players.

Characteristics

The materials used to create the Uhadi have changed over time.

Stave

One of the early choices of wood in making the stave or ‘injikwe’ in isiXhosa were from a tree called the ‘umbangandlela’. It was later made by a bush called ‘uliza’ which grows in abundance on the mountainsides of the Eastern Cape in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. The bush is described to be similar to the

hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999 ...

bush which has long straight stems without any nuts. The wood of the tree is cut while it is still green and stripped of the external dry bark. The length of the stave is made by measuring the wood in relation to the arm of the particular player. The wood is then forced into a curved shape by forcing the ends into a inward direction and secured in this position by means of stringing.

The string

Before the 20th century, the string or ‘usinga’ in isiXhosa was originally made from a length of animal gut or hair. Artists of the 20th century like Nofinishi Dywili made bowstrings from the twisted wires of the bangles that the women wore on their ankles. The bangle was heated on the fire and stretched out to be used for the bow. By the 21st century, Xhosa people started making the strings out of

brass wire Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wi ...

The resonator

The

is made from ‘’uselwa’’ which is a growing calabash that is harvested when green and allowed to dry out. A hole is made on one surface where the stalk would be attached approximately 7-9mm wide. The seeds are removed, and the inner walls of the gourd are scraped with a stick to remove all residue. The gourd is left to dry for at least two days. After the guard has dried out two small holes are made in the center of the gourd, in the area directly opposite the opening in it. To make the insulating pad, a piece of soft cloth is folded into a square shape. Another narrow strip of cloth is twisted into a thin rope or 'string', and this is passed through the two small holes in the gourd, so that the two ends hang loose, and are available for securing the gourd and the insulating pad to the bow stave.

The beater

The beater is called in isiXhosa, and is made from the tambookie grass, or umfuqa. COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Twee Samo muzikanten bespelen de muziekboog TMnr 20010314

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Twee Samo muzikanten bespelen de muziekboog TMnr 20010314

Technique

The open string is either beaten or pinched (which raises the pitch) with a scraped stick or

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

. The Uhadi player holds the opening in the calabash towards their chest, opening or closing the hole by moving the calabash away from or towards the chest. A more open hole with a larger distance from the chest creates higher audible sounds. When the calabash is pressed directly to the chest, the overtones are damped. The player usually adjusts her clothing so that the gourd opening faces, and comes into contact with the bare flesh on or above the breast. This is done to ensure that the full resonance of the amplified partials which would otherwise be compromised by clothing.

Uses

The Uhadi is played for traditional ceremonies including weddings and varies rite of passage ceremonies. Uhadi performances customarily take place in the afternoons and evenings, usually indoors. There are very few uhadi players in the 21st century, however, acclaimed African musicians like

Madosini Latozi "Madosini" Mpahleni (25 December 1943 – 23 December 2022) was a South African musician, known for playing Xhosa traditional instruments such as the '' uhadi'' and ''mhrubhe'' musical bows, and the '' isitolotolo''. Madosini performed ...

and Dizu Plaatjies have made uhadi playing an essential aspect of their musical repertoires. Contemporary uhadi players write and create their own songs; however, traditional ritual songs are not changed out of respect for their ritual significance.T Mandela. The Revival and Revitalization of musical bow practice in South Africa.The University of Cape Town. September 2005 (unpubl. PhD thesis)

References

External links

*https://www.sas.upenn.edu/music/events/colloquium-uhadi-musical-bow-south-african-jazz-musicians *http://www.michaelblake.co.za/sites/default/files/voices-of-a-nation-by-michael-blake.pdf {{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180518200501/http://www.michaelblake.co.za/sites/default/files/voices-of-a-nation-by-michael-blake.pdf , date=2018-05-18 Chordophones Musical bows African musical instruments African music South African styles of music

Music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...