Cimboa – the one-string fiddle
Page made by Olav Aalberg, e-mail: badiu @ start.no
Text and photos by Glaúcia Nogueira, journalist in the A Semana in Cape Verde.
Manu Merndi explaining how to prepare the calabash to become part of a new cimboa
Article first published in A Semana August 10 and 14 2006
Em Português embaixo.
Last known player of cimboa passes knowledge on
http://asemana.cv/article.php3?id_article=19236 10-08-06
Musician and artisan Mano Mendi, Cape Verde’s only known living player and builder of the cimboa, a traditional one-string violin, is now passing his knowledge on to others. A workshop is taking place this week in the village of Ribeirão Chiqueiro, in the municipality of São Domingos, to teach those interested how to construct and restore cimboas, which are made with dried gourds or coconuts.
It has long been said that the cimboa has its days numbered. But now some musicians appear to want to salvage this traditional instrument of the island of Santiago. Pricesito is one of the new generation of Cape Verdean musicians who want to see the cimboa reborn, but there are other individuals as well. One of them is historian Charles Akibodé, who is coordinating a project for the Institute of Cultural Investigation and Patrimony (IIPC) aimed at preserving the cimboa.
In the workshop, Mano Mendi will teach how to construct and, of course, play the instrument, alongside a music instructor. The workshop is multi-disciplinary, and includes a review of documentary material and interviews.
The decline in the cimboa is due in part to the scarcity in Cape Verde of the raw materials needed to construct the instrument: there are practically no more gourds on the island of Santiago (although they may still be found on the island of Fogo), while the horse mane hair used to make the string is being sent from Uruguay.
Cimboa workshop revives endangered musical instrument
http://asemana.cv/article.php3?id_article=19307 14-08-06
Along with his friend António Denti d’Oro and a group of batuko singers, cimboa builder and player Mano Mendi now regards the one-week workshop on the endangered instrument, of which he is said to be the sole master left in Cape Verde, as a celebration.
During the workshop, 79-year-old Mano Mendi (Pedro Mendes Sanches Robalo), considered the last cimboa player in Cape Verde, transmitted his knowledge to four youths from his village of Ribeirão Chiqueiro. Among these future cimboa players is his 16-year-old grandson.
In addition to the four apprentices, the workshop was attended by São Domingos-based musician Pascoal Fernandes, a disciple of the deceased composer Ano Nobo and an enthusiast of the cimboa, a one-stringed violin-style instrument that uses a dried gourd as a resonating chamber. Fernandes assisted Mano Mendi in transmitting construction techniques, while A Semana journalist and anthropology student Gláucia Nogueira accompanied all of the sessions.
Identifying and cutting the correct tree branches for the instrument’s neck and bow as well as plants suitable for the tuning peg, working the woods, preparing goat skins, cutting and puncturing the gourds, sculpting the tuning pegs, among other items, were the activities that kept the group of students busy since last week.
The workshop is an initiative of historian Charles Akibodé of the Institute of Cultural Investigation and Patrimony (IIPC), a state entity that works toward the preservation of Cape Verde’s cultural and historical patrimony. It was the first stage in a wider Cimboa Safeguard project. In the near future, another workshop will be held in Tarrafal (like Ribeirão Chiqueiro, on the island of Santiago) with a cimboa builder who stopped constructing the instruments some twenty years ago, frustrated with the disuse and abandonment into which the cimboa had fallen. Mano Mendi will also give a course for those interested in learning how to play.
The first workshop took place in the Ribeirão Chiqueiro community center next to the SOS Children’s Village, which supported the initiative by providing a space for participants to eat lunch and a room for the closing ceremony, which will take place today at 4:00 pm.
The event will include the projection of slides showing the progress made in the workshop and a DVD about traditional batuko played with cimboa by the women of Ribeirão Chiqueiro, as well as an exhibition of the cimboas made in the workshop and a batuko session with finaçon singer António Denti d’Oro and Mendi himself. The two were recorded in 1997 by Radio France, a recording which was released as a CD by the Ocora/Radio France label in 1998.
Listen to cimboa:
- "Batuque et Finaçon - Ntóni Denti d´Oro (Ocora C 560 132) 1998
- Cape-Verde islands - The roots (Playasound PS 65061 (1990) Cimboa played by Nhô Henrique, 85 years old at the time of recording)
Atelier com Manu Mendi faz renascer a cimboa
http://asemana.cv/article.php3?id_article=19302 14-08-06
por: Glaúcia Nogueira/A Semana
Com o seu amigo António Denti d’Oru e um grande grupo de batucadeiras, o construtor e tocador de cimboa Manu Mendi encerra hoje com uma festa o atelier de construção deste instrumento realizado em Rubon Chiqueiro durante uma semana.
Durante o atelier, Manu Mendi (Pedro Mendes Sanches Robalo), de 79 anos, tido como o último tocador de cimboa de Cabo Verde, transmitiu o seu saber a quatro jovens da sua localidade. Portanto, já não será o último em breve, uma vez que conta com seguidores, um dos quais o seu neto, de 16 anos.
Além dos quatro aprendizes, participou do atelier o músico de S. Domingos Pascoal Fernandes, um discípulo de Ano Nobo e entusiasta do instrumento de uma só corda e corpo de buli, o qual apoiou Manu Mendi na transmissão das técnicas de construção da cimboa. Glaucia Nogueira, jornalista do A Semana e estudante em antropologia, acompanhou toda a formação.
Ir ao mato identificar e cortar ramos da árvore da pinha (para o braço do instrumento) e do barnélu (para o arco) e carriço (para fazer pregos), trabalhar essas madeiras; depilar peles de cabra; cortar e furar os bulis; esculpir uma chave para a afinação, entre outros itens, foram actividades que desde a passada segunda-feira mantiveram ocupado o grupo que trabalha na preservação da cimboa.
Esta formação é uma iniciativa do historiador Charles Akibodé do Instituto de Investigação e do Património Cultural (IIPC), entidade que tem a função de salvaguarda do património. Trata-se da primeira etapa de um projecto de Salvaguarda da Memória da Cimboa. Dentro de algum tempo será realizado no Tarrafal um novo atelier, com um construtor de cimboas que há mais de 20 anos deixou de o fazer, desanimado com o esquecimento a que ela tinha sido votada. Além disso, Manu Mendi dará também um curso para os interessados em aprender a tocar.
A formação realizou-se no centro comunitário de Rubon Chiqueiro, ao lado da Aldeia SOS, a qual apoiou a iniciativa cedendo um espaço aos participantes para o almoço, e uma sala para a cerimónia de encerramento, que se realiza hoje, a partir das 16 horas.
Haverá projecção de diapositivos mostrando a evolução do atelier e de um DVD inédito sobre o batuco tradicional com cimboa com as mulheres de Rubon Chiqueiro; uma exposição das cimboas que foram construídas nesses dias e, finalmente, batuco, com Denti d’Oru a comandar a tchabeta e Mano Mendi a solar a sua cimboa. Os dois, recorde-se, gravaram juntos em 1997 para uma emissão da rádio France Culture feita pela equipa do etnólogo Jean-Yves Loude, o que acabou por ser editado em CD, pela Ocora/Rádio France em 1998.