Conch, or conque, also known as a "seashell horn" or "shell trumpet", is a wind instrument that is made from a conch, the shell of several different kinds of sea snails. Their natural conical bore is used to produce a musical tone. Conch shell trumpets have been played in many Pacific Island countries, as well as South America and Southern Asia. [1]
The shells of large marine gastropods are blown into as if it were a trumpet, as in blowing horn. A completely unmodified conch may be used, or a mouth hole may be created. Wooden, bamboo, or metal mouthpieces may be inserted into the end of the shell. [2] Embouchure is used to produce notes from the harmonic series. A tone hole may be added to change the fundamental frequency but globally this is extremely rare. [3]
Various species of large marine gastropod shells can be turned into "blowing shells", but some of the more commonly used species include triton ('trumpet shell'), cassis ('helmet shell') and strombus ('true conch')." [2]
Shell trumpets have been known since the Magdalenian period (Upper Paleolithic), one example being the "conch Marsoulas", an archeological Charonia lampas shell trumpet which is on display at the Museum de Toulouse. In Israel/Palestine, the [ Charonia tritonis nodifera ] conch trumpet dates from approximately the third millennium BC. [3]
The sacred chank, Turbinella pyrum , is known in India as the shankha (first mentioned in the Artharvaveda , c. 1000 BCE [2] ). In the Mahabharata , Lord Krishna blew the conch shell to announce the start and end of battles. [4] In Tibet it is known as dung-dkar or dungkar. [5]
Throughout Mesoamerican history, conch trumpets were used, often in a ritual context (see figure). In Ancient Maya art, such conches were often decorated with ancestral images; scenes painted on vases show hunters and hunting deities blowing the conch trumpet. Quechua (Inca descendants) and Warao still use the conch. [7]
The Queen Conch Strombus gigas was, and sometimes still is, used as a trumpet in the West Indies and other parts of the Caribbean. The Arawak word ‘fotuto’ was used to describe this instrument, and is still used to this day to refer to conch horns, and analogously, to bullhorns.
The Triton shell, also known as "Triton's trumpet" Charonia tritonis , is used as a trumpet in Melanesian and Polynesian culture, and also in Korea and Japan. In Japan this kind of trumpet is known as the horagai, which spread across Asia with Buddhism (first mentioned during the Heian period (794–1185 CE) [2] ). Shingon Buddhist priests practice a ritual known as homa , which sometimes includes beating drums and blowing horagai. [8] [9] In Korea it is known as the nagak. In some Polynesian islands it is known as "pu". [5]
Conch shell trumpets were historically used throughout Oceania, [2] in countries such as Fiji. The shells are still blown in Fijian resorts as a performance for tourists. The Fijians also used the conch shell when the chief died: the chief's body would be brought down a special path and the conch would be played until the chief's body reached the end of the path. In New Zealand, a type of conch with a wooden mouthpiece called the pūtātara is the main instrument used to herald guests in traditional welcoming ceremonies. [10] [11]
Australia appears to be the only country in Oceania where conch shells were not used as a musical instrument, despite the widespread availability of shells. [12]
Austronesian settlers to the island of Madagascar brought along their conch shell which eventually became the antsiva (in the west coast) or bankora which was blown customarily as part of ceremonies such as circumcisions and funerals. [13] It was also incorporated into Merina royal regalia exclusively blown by male slaves to herald a royal's arrival, signalling mourning in time of death or even to mark battles. [13] [14]
Cragen Beca is a conch shell trumpet. It was blown to call the legendary character Rebecca and her ‘Daughters’ to action during the infamous Rebecca Riots in Carmarthenshire of the mid-19th century (1839 – 43). [15]
In Malta the instrument is called a bronja, colloquially known as tronga. The shell of a sea snail is modified, with a hole at one end, and when blown it creates a loud noise. The tronja was generally used to inform the people that the windmills on the islands are operating that day due to being a windy day, which allows the grain of wheat and other grains to be ground. [16] [17]
Carlos Chávez uses the trombone as a substitute for the conch in his 1940 piece Xochipilli . [18] American jazz trombonist Steve Turre also plays conches, in particular with his group Sanctified Shells. [19] The group released its first, eponymous album in 1993. [20] [21] [22] [23]
An Indian conch, partially processed via an Echoplex delay, was featured prominently in the score for the film Alien (1979). Initially, composer Jerry Goldsmith used the conch during a scene depicting the extraterrestrial environment of a derelict spaceship. However, director Ridley Scott was so impressed by the eerie effect that he requested its use throughout the rest of the score, including during the main titles. [24]
Various conch shells performed by musician, Don Chilton are featured prominently throughout the soundtrack of the film Where the Crawdads Sing (2021) composed by Academy Award winning composer Mychael Danna. [25]
Triton is a Greek god of the sea, the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, god and goddess of the sea respectively. Triton lived with his parents in a golden palace on the bottom of the sea. Later he is often depicted as having a conch shell he would blow like a trumpet.
A shofar is an ancient musical horn typically made of a ram's horn, used for Jewish religious purposes. Like the modern bugle, the shofar lacks pitch-altering devices, with all pitch control done by varying the player's embouchure. The shofar is blown in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and at the end of Yom Kippur; it is also blown every weekday morning in the month of Elul running up to Rosh Hashanah. Shofars come in a variety of sizes and shapes, depending on the choice of animal and level of finish.
Conch is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal.
Stephen Johnson Turre is an American jazz trombonist and a pioneer of using seashells as instruments, a composer, arranger, and educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. For sixty years, Turre has been active in jazz, rock, and Latin jazz – in live venues, recording studios, television, and cinema production.
Aliger gigas, originally known as Strombus gigas or more recently as Lobatus gigas, commonly known as the queen conch, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family of true conches, the Strombidae. This species is one of the largest molluscs native to the Caribbean Sea, and tropical northwestern Atlantic, from Bermuda to Brazil, reaching up to 35.2 centimetres (13.9 in) in shell length. A. gigas is closely related to the goliath conch, Lobatus goliath, a species endemic to Brazil, as well as the rooster conch, Aliger gallus.
Charonia is a genus of very large sea snail, commonly known as Triton's trumpet or Triton snail. They are marine gastropod mollusks in the monotypic family Charoniidae.
Horagai are large conch shells, usually from Charonia tritonis, that have been used as trumpets in Japan for many centuries. The instrument, which has served a number of purposes throughout Japanese history, has been given a number of Japanese names depending on its function. Special schools still teach students to play the traditional music associated with the conch.
The operculum is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure like a trapdoor that exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails; the structure is found in some marine and freshwater gastropods, and in a minority of terrestrial gastropods, including the families Helicinidae, Cyclophoridae, Aciculidae, Maizaniidae, Pomatiidae, etc.
A shankha has religious ritual importance in Hinduism.
The nagak is a wind-instrument made from a large seashell and played as a horn in Korean traditional music. It produces only a single tone and is used primarily in the military procession music called daechwita. The mouthpiece of the nagak is made by making a hole in the pointed end of the conch, into which a mouthpiece is fitted. This instrument is first recorded as being used in Goryeo.
The chromatic trumpet of Western tradition is a fairly recent invention, but primitive trumpets of one form or another have been in existence for millennia; some of the predecessors of the modern instrument are now known to date back to the Neolithic era. The earliest of these primordial trumpets were adapted from animal horns and sea shells, and were common throughout Europe, Africa, India and, to a lesser extent, the Middle East. Primitive trumpets eventually found their way to most parts of the globe, though even today indigenous varieties are quite rare in the Americas, the Far East and South-East Asia. Some species of primitive trumpets can still be found in remote places, where they have remained largely untouched by the passage of time.
Charonia tritonis, common name the Triton's trumpet, the giant triton or pū is a species of very large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Charoniidae, the tritons. Reaching up to two feet in shell length this is one of the biggest mollusks in the coral reef.
The blowing horn or winding horn is a sound device that is usually made of or shaped like an animal horn, arranged to blow from a hole in the pointed end of it. This rudimentary device had a variety of functions in many cultures, in most cases reducing its scope to exhibiting, celebratory or group identification purposes. On the other hand, it has kept its function and profile in many cattle raising, agricultural and hunter-gatherer societies.
The pūtātara is a type of trumpet used by the Māori people of New Zealand. It is customarily made with a carved wooden mouthpiece and a bell made from New Zealand's small native conch shells or triton shell. Larger pūtātara were particularly prized as the triton shell was rarely found and only sometimes washed up on the beaches in the Far North. It is often blown in guest welcoming ceremonies.
Charonia lampas is a species of predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Charoniidae.
Charonia variegata, the Atlantic triton or Atlantic triton's trumpet, is a species of predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Charoniidae, the triton snails, triton shells, or tritons.
The hakgediya is a type of conch shell which is used as a kind of trumpet in the traditional ritualistic music and religious folk art-music of Sri Lanka, which has been somewhat influenced by Indian music. The hakgediya is an aerophone, or Susira. This instrument was used mainly in Theravada Buddhist artistic rituals which also involved other categories of instruments such as Ghana, Avanaddha, and Tat.
Titanostrombus galeatus, commonly known as the Eastern Pacific giant conch, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Strombidae, the true conchs and their allies.
Xochipilli, subtitled "An Imagined Aztec Music", is a short composition for four wind instruments and six percussionists by the Mexican composer Carlos Chávez, written in 1940. Its original title was Xochipilli-Macuilxóchitl, which is the double name of an Aztec god in two of his aspects, meaning "Flower Prince" and "Five Flower".