Botswana San bushmen musical bow performance 1972

The San, commonly known as the Bushmen, who make the Kalahari Desert their home, are notable in Africa as one of only a few groups who maintain a traditional livelihood of hunting
and gathering. The film was taken in 1972 of the !Xo (!Ko)
group who live in the bush to the south and southeast of Kalkfontein in western Botswana. Their lives are centered around social units made up of extended family groups, termed “bands.”
These bands are usually made up of thirty to fifty people. Although their traditional lifestyle is to move across the desert, hunting and gathering as they go, at the time of filming in 1972 only 4,000 of the 26,000 San in Botswana were leading this type of life. And since 1980, the government has displayed a strong tendency to encourage these hunting peoples to convert to a stationary life surrounding water wells.

The musical bow is an important African musical instrument, especially in Central and South Africa. The simplest version of this instrument, common among the San, is a bow, normally used for hunting, used musically. The instrument seen here, however, with a string made of metal, is used exclusively for music. (The bow on the right is so straight that it might be more appropriately termed a “musically strung pole.”) The end of the bow’s string is put into the mouth, which is used as a resonating cavity to amplify the sound, and the string is lightly struck with a small branch. The instrument in use here has its string tied to the bow two-thirds of the way between the two ends. The string is struck on both sides of this tie, extending the possibilities of basic tones. Listening to the basic tones, the performer alters their reverberations with the shape of his mouth. He holds the string between the index and middle fingers of his left hand, adjusting the vibration with the thumb. In this manner, two melodies, rich in delicate variations, are produced in the high and low registers. With the addition of the second performer, the rhythm becomes even more complex.
(from notes accompanying video)

Видео Botswana San bushmen musical bow performance 1972 канала Joe Leeming