Lohangi Katti Indian Mace

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by Philip

...(the ancient tribes of Scotland used a war-trumpet modeled after a boar's tusked gaping maw, called a carynx, ...

The Celtic world used 'em. Y

Your Music Lesson for the day:

See The Voice of the Carynx

( If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a few minutes of time )

Another carynx video

To be fair and balanced the Romans had a similar version:

The Cornu


...And now the science

[Philip]

Originally Posted by kronckew

The Celtic world used 'em. Y

To be fair and balanced the Romans had a similar version:

Thanks for the links, carynx has a lot of musical possibilities -- what an otherworldly sound! Both eerie and awe-inspiring. Some years ago I saw a display in a vitrine at the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, featuring an excavated and surprisingly intact original, and an exact copy of same made by a notable instrument-maker in country. Unfortunately, there was no audio track for visitors to hear what it sounded like. YouTube is great.

I liked the way the Roman reenactor played Verdi's triumphal march from "Aida" on his cornu. The only improvement might be if the piece was performed on the dynastic Egyptian counterpart, in keeping with the theme of the opera.

The Romans had their share of brass instruments for military use: the circular cornu, the long straight tuba (similar concept as the much larger Tibetan ones blown at temple ceremonies), the buccina, and the lituus which was shorter and had a single bend looking like a tobacco-pipe. None of these had zoomorphic bells or mouths like the carynx. Even though the boar was an important symbol seen on military regalia such a legion standards.