The gora and the 'grand' gom-gom

Authors

  • Erica Mugglestone Research Assistant at Princeton University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v6i2.1119

Abstract

For three centuries the interest of travellers and scholars alike has been aroused by the gora, an unbraced mouth-resonated musical bow peculiar to South Africa, because it is organologically unusual in that it is a blown chordophone. A split quill is attached to the bowstring at one end of the instrument. The string is passed through a hole in one end of the quill and secured; the other end of the quill is then bound or pegged to the stave. The string is lashed to the other end of the stave so that it may be tightened or loosened at will. The player holds the quill lightly between his parted lips, and, by inhaling and exhaling forcefully, causes the quill (and with it the string) to vibrate. Of all the early descriptions of the gora, that of Peter Kolb, a German astronomer who resided at the Cape of Good Hope from 1705 to 1713, has been the most contentious. Not only did his character and his publication in general come under attack, but also his account of Khoikhoi musical bows in particular. Kolb’s text indicates that two types of musical bow were observed, to both of which he applied the name gom-gom. As the ‘lesser’ gom-gom is in fact the gora, the two types of bow may be distinguished conveniently by referring to them as the gora and the ‘grand’ gom-gom respectively.

References

Almedia, Antonio de 1965 Bushmen and other non-Bantu peoples of Angola, Three Lectures, Ed: Phillip V. Tobias and John Blacking, Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press for The Institute for the Study of Man in Africa.
Baines, Anthony, ed. 1961 Musical Instruments through the ages, Ed: Anthony Baines for the Galpin Society, New York; Walker & Co., Harmondsworth, Sussex: Penguin, 1965.
Balfour, Henry 1899 The natural history of the musical bow, A Chapter in the Developmental History of Stringed Instruments of Music. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press.
1902 "The Goura, a Stringed-Wind Musical Instrument of the Bushmen and Hottentots." Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 32: 156 - 176.
Boeseken, Anna J. 1977 Slaves and Free blacks at the Cape 1658 - 1700. Cape Town; Tafelberg.
Bradlow, Frank R., and Cairns, Margaret 1978 The early Cape Muslims. A study of their mosques, genealogy and origins, Cape Town, A.A. Balkema.
Buchner, A. 1956 Musical Instruments through the Ages. London: Spring Books.
Burchell, William J. 1822 - 1824 Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa. Repr. from the orig. edition of 1822-4 with some additional material and introduction by I. Schapera, 2 vols. London; Robert Mac- Lebose & Co.; reprint ed., London: Batchworth Press, 1953.
Camp, Charles M., and Nettl, Bruno 1955 "The Musical Bow in Southern Africa." Anthropos 50: 65 - 80.
Dapper, Olfert 1668 Naukeurige beschrijvinge der afrikaensche gewesten van Egypten, Barbaryen, Libyen, Biledulgerid, Negroslant, Guinea, Ethiopien, Abyssinie. Getrokken uit verscheyde heden- daegse lantbeschrijvers en geschriften van bereisde ondersoekers dier landen. Amsterdam: Jacob van Meurs;repr. in The Early Cape Hottentots, ed. I. Schapera, pp. 6 - 77. Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society, 1933.
Dickens, Charles 1836- 1839 Sketches by Boz Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People. London: Oxford University Press, 1957.
Dictionary 1811 - 1862 Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne. S.v. "Kolbe, Pierre."
1882 Allgemeine deutsche Biographie. 1st ed. Ed. by Historic Commission of the Royal Aca- demy of Sciences (Berlin). Repr. ed., Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1969.
1944 The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Ed. Willi Apel. 2nd ed., Harvard university Press, 1969.
1968 - 1977 Dictionary of South African Biography. 1st ed. 3 vols. S.v. "Kolb, Peter," by O.F. Raum; "De Grevenbroek, Johannes Guillelmus," by Anna J. Böeseken.
1980 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 20 vols. Ed: Stanley Sadie. S.v. "Africa," by Klaus P. Wachsmann and Peter Cooke; "Gora," by David K. Rycroft.
Dräger, Hans Heinz 1948 Prinzip einer Systematik der Musikinstrumente. Kassel & Basel: Bärenreiter.
Elphick, Richard Hall 1972 The Cape Khoi and the First Phase of South African Race Relations. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University, Ph.D. dissertation.
1977 Kraal and Castle. Khoikhoi and the Founding of White South Africa. New Haven & Lon- don: Yale University Press.
Elphick, Richard Hall, and Giliomee, Hermann, eds. 1979 The Shaping of South African Society, 1652 - 1820. Cape Town: Longman Penguin Southern Africa.
Encyclopaedia 1949- Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik. Basel S.v. "Bantu," "Buschmann- und Hottentottenmusik," "Südafrika," by P.R. Kirby.
1970 - 1976 Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa. S.v. "Kolb, Peter," by P.J.Venter.
Engels, Louise J. 1951 "Personal Accounts of the Cape of Good Hope written between 1652 and 1715." Africana Notes and News 8 (3): 71 - 100.
Febvre, Lucien Paul Victor, and Martin, Henri-Jean 1976 The Coming of the Book: the Impact of Printing 1450 - 1800. Transl. David Gerard. Ed: Geoffrey Nowell-Smith and David Wootton. New ed. London: NLB.
Germann, Paul, ed. 1922 Peter Kolb, 1675 - 1726, Reise zum Vorgebirge der Guten Hoffnung. Leipzig: F.A. Brock- haus.
Godee Molsbergen, Everhardus Cornelis, ed. 1916 - 1932 Reizen in Zuid-Afrika in de Hollandse tijd. 's-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff.
Gombrich, Ernst Hans Josef 1960 Art and Illusion. A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation. New York: Pan- theon; 2nd ed., London: Phaidon Press, 1962.
Grevenbroek, Johannes Gulielmus de 1695 N.N. Graevenbroeckii elegans et accurata gentis Africanae circa Promontorium Capitis Bonae Spei vulgo Hottentotten nuncupatae anno 1695 descriptio epistolaris. Manuscript letter;repr.in The Early Cape Hottentots, Ed: I. Schapera, pp. 172 - 299. Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society, 1933.
Hammond-Tooke, W.D., ed. 1974 The Bantu-speaking Peoples of Southern Africa. London & Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Harinck, Gerrit 1969 "Interaction between Xhosa and Khoi: Emphasis on the Period 1620 - 1750." In African Societies in Southern Africa, ed. Leonard Thompson, pp. 145 - 170. New York, Wash- ington: Praeger.
Hen, Ferdinand J. de 1976 "A Case of gesunkenes Kulturgut: The Toila." Galpin Society Journal 29: 84 - 90.
Hornbostel, Erich Moritz von 1933 "The ethnology of African sound-instruments. Comments on Geist und Werden der Musik- instrumente by C.Sachs." Africa 6 (2 & 3): 129-157 & 277-311.
Hornbostel, Erich Moritz von, and Sachs, Curt 1914 "Systematik der Musikinstrumente, Ein Versuch." Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 4 & 5:533- 590. English transl. Anthony Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann, "Classification of musical instruments", Galpin Society Journal 14 (1961):3-29.
Jenkins, Jean 1970 Ethnic Musical Instruments, Identification - Conservation. Published with the help of UNESCO. London: Hugh Evelyn for the International Council of Museums.
1970 Musical Instruments. London: Horniman Museum.
Jenkins, Trefor, and Tobias, Phillip V. 1977 "Nomenclature of Population Groups in Southern Africa." African Studies 36 (1):49-55.
Jiro Tanaka 1978 A San Vocabulary of the Central Kalahari - G//ana and G/wi Dialects. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
Jopp, Werner 1960 Die frühen deutschen Berichte über das Kapland und die Hottentotten bis 1750. Göttin- gen: Georg August University, Ph.D. dissertation.
Kaudern, W. 1927 Musical Instruments in Celebes. Gothenburg: Elanders Boktryckeri Aktiebolag.
Kirby, Percival Robson 1931a "The Gora and its Bantu Successors: A Study in South African Native Music." Bantu Studies 5 (2): 89 - 109.
1931b "The Mystery of the Grand Gom-Gom." South African Journal of Science 28: 521 -525.
1932a "The Music and Musical Instruments of the Korana." Bantu Studies 6 (2): 183 - 204.
1932b "The Recognition and Practical Use of the Harmonics of Stretched Strings by the Bantu of South Africa." Bantu Studies 6 (1); 31 -46.
1933 "The Reed-flute Ensembles of South Africa: A Study in South African Native Music." Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 63: 313 - 388.
1934 The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa. London: Oxford University Press; repr. 2nd ed., Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1965.
1935 "A Further Note on the Gora and its Bantu Successors." Bantu Studies 9 (1); 53 - 61.
1936a "A Study of Bushman Music." Bantu studies 10 (2): 205 - 252.
1936b "The Musical Practices of the /'Auni and ?Khomani Bushmen." Bantu Studies 10 (4): 373 -431.
1937 "The Musical Practices of the Native Races of South Africa." In The Bantu-speaking Tribes of South Africa, Ed: I Schapera, pp. 271 - 289. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
1939 "Musical Instruments of the Cape Malays." South African Journal of Science 36: 477 - 488.
1961 "Physical Phenomena Which Appear to have Determined the Bases and Development of an Harmonic Sense among Bushmen, Hottentot and Bantu." African Music 2 (4): 6 - 9.
Kolb, Peter 1719 Caput Bonae Spei Hodiernum; das ist, Vollständige Beschreibung des africanischen Vorge- bürges der Guten Hofnung. Worinnen in dreyen Theilen abgehandelt wird wie es heut zu Tage nach seiner Situation und Eigenschaft aussiehet: in gleichen was ein Natur-Forscher in den dreyen Reichen der Natur daselbst findet und antrifft; wie nicht weniger was die eigenen Einwohner die Hottentotten vor seltsame Sitten und Gebrauche haben; und end- lich alles was die Europäischen daselbst gestifteten Colonien anbetrift. Mit angefügter ge- nugsamer Nachricht wie es auf des Auctoris Hinein - und Heraus - Reise zugegangen; auch was sich zeit seiner langen Anwesenheit an diesem Vorgebürge merckwürdiges ereignet hat. Nuremberg: Peter Conrad Monath.
1731 The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope: or, A Particular Account of the Several Nations of the Hottentots: Their Religion, Government, Laws, Customs, Ceremonies, and Opinions; Their Art of war, Professions, Language, Genius, etc. Together with a Short Account of the Dutch Settlement at the Cape. Transl. Guido Medley, London: W. Innys; repr. ed., with new introduction by W. Peter Carstens, New York & London: Johnston Reprint Corporation, 1968.
Kubik, Gerhard 1970a Natureza e estrutura de escalas musicais africanas. Lisboa: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, Centro de Estudos de Antropologia Cultural.
1970b Música tradicional e aculturada dos !Kung de Angola. Uma introdução ao instrumentario, estrutura e técnicas de execução da música dos !Kung, incidindo em especial nos factores psicológico-sociais da actual mudança na cultura dos povos Khoisan. Lisboa: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, Centro de Estudos de Antropologia Cultural.
1975/6 "Musical Bows in South-Western Angola, 1965." African Music 5 (4) 98 - 104.
1979 Angolan Traits in Black Music, Games and Dances of Brazil. A Study of African cultural extensions overseas. Lisboa: Junta de Investigações Científicas do Ultramar, Centro de Estudos de Antropologia Cultural.
Kunst, Jaap 1934 De toonkunst van Java. 2 vols. English ed., Music in Java. Its History, its Theory and its Technique. 3rd enlarged ed., Ed: E.L. Heins. 's-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff; English ed., The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1973.
1949 The Cultural Background of Indonesian Music. Amsterdam: Indisch Instituut.
1968 Hindu-Javanese Musical Instruments. 2nd revised and enlarged ed. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
1974 Ethnomusicology, A study of its nature, its problems, methods, and Representative Per- sonalities to which is added a Bibliography. Repr. of the 3rd much enlarged ed. of 'Music- ologica' and of the 2nd ed. of the supplement. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
L'Honoré Naber, Samuel Pierre 1931 Reisebeschreibungen von deutschen Beamten und Kriegsleuten im Dienst der Nieder- ländischen West- und Ost-Indischen Kompagnien 1602 - 1797. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
La Caille, Abbé Nicolas Louis de 1763 Journal historique du voyage fait au Cap de Bonne-Espérance. Paris: Guillyn.
Maingard, L.F. 1931 "The Lost Tribes of the Cape." South African Journal of Science 28: 487 - 504.
1932a "Studies in Korana History, Customs and Language." Bantu Studies 6 (2): 103 - 162.
1932b "History and Distribution of the Bow and Arrow in South Africa." South African Journal of Science 29: 711 - 723.
1935 "The First Contacts of the Dutch with the Bushmen until the Time of Simon van der Stel (1686)." South African Journal of Science 32: 479 - 487.
Maim, W.P. 1967 Music Cultures of the Pacific, Near East, and Asia. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Marcuse, Sibyl 1964 Musical Instruments. A Comprehensive Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, corrected ed., New York: W.W. Norton, 1975.
Mason, Otis T. 1897 "Geographical Distribution of the Musical Bow." American Anthropologist 10 (4): 377 - 380.
McIntyre, Donald 1951 "An Astronomical Bi-Centenary. The Abb6 de Lacaille's Visit to the Cape, 1751 - 1753." Quarterly Bulletin of the South African Library 5 (3): 79-90.
Meinhof, Carl 1930 Der Koranadialekt der Hottentottischen. Berlin: Verlag von Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vöh- sen) A. -G.; Hamburg: C. Boysen; repr. ed., Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus, 1969.
Mendelssohn, Sidney 1910 South African Bibliography. 2 vols. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.;repr. ed., London: Holland Press, 1968.
Mentzel, Otto Friedrich 1785 - 1787 Vollständige und zuverlässige geographische und topographische Beschreibung des berühm- ten und in aller Betrachtung merkwürdigen afrikanischen Vorgebirges der Guten Hoffnung. Glogau: C.F.Günther.
Musiker, Reuben 1970 South African Bibliography. A Survey of Bibliographies and Bibliographical Work. Ham- den, Conn.: Archon Books.
Nurse, G.T. 1972 "Musical Instrumentation among the San (Bushmen) of the Central Kalahari." African Music 5 (2): 23 - 27.
Passarge, S. 1905 "Das Okawangosumpfland und seine Bewohner." Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 37 (5): 649 - 716.
Picart, Bernard 1723 Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses des peuples idolatres representées par des figures dess- indes et gravées par Bernard Picard, et autres habiles artistes. Amsterdam: J.F. Bernard; new ed., Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde representées par des figures dessinées et gravées par Bernard Picard, et autres habiles artistes. Amster- dam, Paris: Chez Laporte, 1783, 4 vols in 2.
Raven-Hart, R. 1967 Before Van Riebeeck. Callers at South Africa from 1488 to 1652. Cape Town: Struik.
Rhijne, Willem ten 1686 Schediasma de Promontorio Bonae Spei; ejusve tractus incolis Hottentottis, accurante, brevesque notas addente Henr. Screta S. a Zavorziz. Schaffhausen: John Martin Oswald; repr.in TheEarly Cape Hottentots, Ed; I. Schapera, pp. 84 - 157. Cape Town: Van Rieb- eeck Society, 1933.
Sachs, Curt 1923 Die Musikinstrumente Indiens und Indonesiens. 2nd ed. Berlin & Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter.
1928 Geist und Werden der Musikinstrumente. Berlin: Verlag von Dietrich Reimer; repr. ed., Hilversum: Frits A.M. Knuf, 1965.
1930 Handbuch der Musikinstrumentenkunde. 2nd rev. ed. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel.
1938 Les instruments de musique de Madagascar. Paris: Institut d 'Ethnologie.
1940 The History of Musical Instruments. New York: W.W. Norton.
1964 Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente. Rev. ed. New York: Dover.
Saunders, Frederick A. 1978 "Physics and Music." In Readings from Scientific American: The Physics of Music. pp. 6 - 15. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Co.
Schapera, Isaac 1930 The Khoisan Peoples of South Africa. Bushman and Hottentots. London: George Rout- ledge & Sons.
1933 The Early Cape Hottentots. Described in the Writings of Olfert Dapper (1668), Willem Ten Rhyne (1686) and Johannes Gulielmus de Grevenbroek (1695). The original texts, English transl.: I. Schapera and B. Farrington, Ed., with intro. and notes: I.Schapera. Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society: repr. ed., Westport, Conn.; Negro Universities Press, 1970.
1937 The Bantu-speaking Tribes of South Africa. An Ethnographical Survey. London: Rout- ledge & Kegan Paul.
Schreyer, Johann 1681 Neue Ost-Indianische Reisz-Beschreibung, von Anno 1669, bis 1677. Handelnde von un- terschiedenen africanischen und barbarischen Volckern, sonderlich derer an dem Vor- Gebiirge Caput bonae spei sich enthaltenden so genanten Hottentoten. Lebensart. Klei- dung, Haushaltung, Ehestand, Kinder-Zucht, Aber-Glauben, Leibes-Ubung, Kriegs-Rüst- ung, Tantzen, Handel und Gewerbe, Wohnungen, Tod und Begrabnisz u.d.g. Leipzig: Johann Christian Wohlfahrt; repr. in Reisebeschreibungen von deutschen Beamten und Kriegsleuten im Dienst der Niederländischen West- und Ost-Indischen Kompagnien 1602- 179 7, Ed. Samuel Pierre L'Honoré Naber. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1931, vol. vii.
Scientific American 1978 The Physics of Music. Readings from Scientific American. With an Intro. by Carleen Maley Hutchins, San Francisco: W.H. Freeman & Co.
Sparrman, Anders 1785 - 1786 A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, Towards the Antarctic Polar Circle, Round the World, and to the Country of the Hottentots and the Caffres, from the Year 1772-1776. Based on the English editions of 1785-1786 publ. by Robinson, London. Ed. V.S. Forbes, Transl. from Swedish rev. by J. & I. Rudner. 2 vols. Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society, 1975.
Stow, George W. 1905 The Native Races of South Africa. A History of the Intrusion of the Hottentots and Bantu into the Hunting Grounds of the Bushmen, the Aborigines of the Country. Ed: George McCall Theal. London: Swan Sonnenschein.
Theal, George McCall 1882 Chronicles of Cape Commanders. Cape Town: W.A. Richards & Sons.
1897 History of South Africa under the Administration of the Dutch East India Company (1652 to 1795). 2 vols. London: Swan Sonnenschein.
Valentyn, François 1724 - 1726 Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, vervattende een naaukeurige en uitvoerige verhandelinge van Nederlands Mogentheyd in die gewesten, benewens eene wydluftige beschryvinge der Moluccos, Amboina, Banda, Timor, en Solor, Java, en alle de eylanden onder dezelve land- bestieringen behoorende; het Nederlands comptoir op Suratte, en de levens der Groote Mogols. Dordrecht; Johannes van Braam; Amsterdam; Gerard onder de Linden.
1726 Beschryving van 't Nederlandsch Comptoir op de Kust van Malabar en van onzen Handel in Japan, Mitsgaders een Beschryving van Kaap der Goede Hoope en 't Eyland Mauritius, met de zaaken tot de voornoemde Ryken en Landen behoorende. Vyfde deel, tweede stuk. Dordrecht; Johannes van Braam; Amsterdam; Gerard onder de Linden;repr. ed., Beschry- vinge van de Kaap der Goede Hoope met de zaaken daar toe behoorende. Part I Ed. and annotated P.Serton, R. Raven-Hart, W.J. de Kock, final ed. E.H. Raidt, intro. P. Serton, English transl. R. Raven-Hart, Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society, 1971.
Werner, A. 1931 "Correspondence. The Gora." Bantu Studies 5 (3). 257 - 258.
Westphal, E.O.J. 1962 "A Re-Classification of Southern African Non-Bantu Languages." Journal of African Languages 1 (1). 1 -8.
1963 "The Linguistic Prehistory of Southern Africa: Bush, Kwadi, Hottentot and Bantu Ling- uistic Relationships." Africa 33 (3); 237 - 265.
Willet, Shelagh M. 1965 The Bushman: A Select Bibliography, 1652 - 1962. Johannesburg: University of the Wit- watersrand, Dept. of Bibliography, Librarianship and Typography.
Wuras, Carl Friedrich 1927 - 1929 "An Account of the Korana." Bantu Studies 3 (2): 287 - 296.

Downloads

Published

1982-07-07

How to Cite

Mugglestone, Erica. 1982. “The Gora and the ’grand’ Gom-Gom”. African Music : Journal of the International Library of African Music 6 (2):94-115. https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v6i2.1119.