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Hello, Priscilla Hernandez (singer-songwriter) again... I wanted to share this article about these simple and haunting instruments.
I'm sharing this improvised "Wind incantation" I recorded in Samhain, 1st October 2015. Wind has always been an inspiration and a personal "obsession". I even wrote a song called "The Wind song" in one of my albums. As I mentioned in my introduction post, I love to collect and play rare and folk instruments to layer the sounds in my work, so here is a "Capella" improvisation just with a "wind-band".
What are wind-bands and bull roarers?
Wind bands are in fact instruments inspired in the "bull roarers", an ancient music instrument consisting in a piece of wood attached to a cord that you just spin to make it buzz. There are archaeological evidence of their existence since the Paleolithic period in several continents. From Scandinavia, to Ancient Greece to Australia, it is found in many cultures with different names. It was used to communicate over distance (the low frequency can travel and be heard several miles away) and also in rituals to keep "evil spirits" at bay and summon good forces.
Wind bands are a modern type of "bull roarers" and belong too to the same category of music instruments called "aerophones" as the sounds depend on the vibration caused by air against the surface of the instrument. They are very easy to build and the sound it produces is somehow a mix of the didgeridoo and the classic bull roarer. They are usually constructed of wood with a rubber band resonator. It doesn't require any special technique except twirling it with the handle, depending on the speed it can create a variety of sounds and is tune-able to different pitches.
When you spin it it produces a drone sound, kind of eerie and ghostly, the pitch can be changed adjusting the distance of the "dividing piece", if you place such piece in an angle it can create harmonics too. Some stores sell "double wind bands" to mix two tones. As you can see the building plan is rather simple. I love to bring it with me when I hike and I just improvise along with the drone. I love rare instruments, fantasy, myths, legends and music.
Video:
Electric single string on a bronze didgeridoo!
DIJBOW web page: http://andygraham.net/Dijbow/Dijbow.htm
This is an instrument I invented almost 10-years ago. I recently revived it and started running it through a digitech RP1000 guitar processor for the stringed part. The didgeridoo is simply miced and run through a PA with some reverb.
-Andy Graham andygraham.net
Michael Zarimis is presenting the Misa Digital Kitara an experimental new instrument, similar to an electric guitar in shape, but with an interface designed to easily and intuitively control digital audio.
Hevia is a world wide known bagpipe performer (Celtic Folk) from Asturias, Spain. He has launched his own trademark electronic MIDI bagpipes. The cool of thing of them! they're portable and easy to travel with (fitting as aircraft hand luggage so you don't have to risk it) and also they have all the versatile functions of the MIDI so you can make it sound virtually as anything you could imagine. You can read more at the official website of this bagpipes at:
Right now they come with custom software with ready to go sounds (including samples of several European bagpipes as well as other instruments) that works in MAC computers but they're developing it for the use in PC and Windows systems shortly. Bagpipes have a midi controller and can work via USB or bluetooth autonomous up to 25 meters, and will sound through the speakers of your computer system. What does it mean? that if you're a happy piper that likes to perform all day but your neighbors hate you and menace to kick you out of the building... yay, you can do cool things like lowering the volume of your instrument and of course make it sound like a completely different thing with VST (virtual instruments) or any sound from your sampler. Below you can see a demonstration and also how small it is packaged and folded to travel with. Cute huh?
The price of the new Hevia Electronic Bagpipes MBS 300 is 1.999 euros + 18% VAT (depending on the country) + shipping expenses. If you are interested in purchasing a set you can write directly to their email info@heviaelectronicbagpipes.com and ask them for more information or how proceed with the payment.
My only complaint remark is that the trademark is printed a bit too big in the instrument, a more subtle trademark would have made it a bit more elegant, still I'd not mind to have one, snif! :)
