Evening Strumpets,
I had the good fortune to see three rather excellent bands last Saturday night at The Georgian Theatre in Stockton. John and the Ragmen, Paris XY (my new favourite band) were supporting The Purnells for the launch of their spanking new CD "A half step in the shadows". I got chatting to Stu who is the frontman for The Purnells, and he happened to mention that he had a Jimbush that he was looking to sell.
I had no idea what one of these things were but when he mentioned it as being "a banjo with a bucket on it" well, I just had to have it.
This is the bucket part of it. The
cümbüş (to give it it's home name) is a Turkish instrument and the names translates into English as "fun" or "revelry". My wife and children would disagree with this. It was an absolute nightmare to restring (four strings snapped in the car on the way home). It has 12 strings and tuned to ABEABG.
That is a peg which you can twist to bring the fretless neck closer or further away from the strings. I'll let Wikipedia take over for a bit.
"The
cümbüş (
//;
Turkish pronunciation: [dʒymˈbyʃ]) is a
Turkish stringed instrument of relatively modern origin. It was developed in 1930 by Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş (1881–1947) as an
oud-like instrument that could be heard as part of a larger ensemble.
[1]
The cümbüş is shaped like an American
banjo, with a spun-aluminum resonator bowl and skin soundboard. Although originally configured as an oud, the instrument has been converted to other instruments by attaching a different set of neck and strings.
[2] The standard cümbüş is
fretless, but guitar, mandolin and ukulele versions have
fretboards. The neck is adjustable, allowing the musician to change the angle of the neck to its strings by turning a screw.
[3] One model is made with a wooden resonator bowl, with the effect of a less tinny, softer sound.
After the
Turkish War of Independence Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş
wanted to create a new instrument to embody the ideals of peace, an instrument for the masses. He switched his company from dealing with
arms to manufacturing musical instruments for "the support of peace through music." In a meeting with
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, he showed one of his new inventions. It was "an inexpensive instrument easy to transport and hard to break, capable of playing both Eastern
alaturka music and, with a quick change of removable necks, Western alafranga music as well." A modern instrument for a modern country.
[1] After the
Turkish War of Independence Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş
wanted to create a new instrument to embody the ideals of peace, an instrument for the masses. He switched his company from dealing with
arms to manufacturing musical instruments for "the support of peace through music." In a meeting with
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, he showed one of his new inventions. It was "an inexpensive instrument easy to transport and hard to break, capable of playing both Eastern
alaturka music and, with a quick change of removable necks, Western alafranga music as well." A modern instrument for a modern country.
[1]
The cümbüş was inexpensive and was bought by people who couldn't afford a more expensive instrument; as a result, his dream the masses accepting it was marginalized. The instrument became a folk instrument of the poor and of ethnic minorities in Turkey, including
Rûm,
Armenians,
Jews,
Kurds, and
Romani, "playing indigenous
folk music or repertoires shared with ethnic Turks." It was excluded specifically by classical musicians of the era, being seen as lower-class or ethnic. A perception grew of it being "other" or ethnic or different or lower-class, and Turkish society did not adopt the instrument widely. By the 1960s, use of the cümbüş declined among these minorities, except for Román professional musicians. They adopted the instrument because of its ability to be heard alongside the other instruments they played at weddings and parties."
I have to admit that it had me confused for a while. The tuning is not like anything I'm used to, and the fretless neck is a bit of a bugger to get to grips with. However perseverance led to a little ditty which you can hear below, with mistakes intact. It's always good to hear what you sound like when you first pick up an instrument.
Finally here's a picture of the mad old sod who invented it. I think he looks like Jack The Biscuit!
Till the next one, learn something new,
Mark.
