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Traditional Mallorcan object

Ximbomba

At a glance

Friction drum. A taut skin over the mouth of a container, crossed in the center by a canya. When you rub the cane with your wet hand, the skin vibrates and…

Objects and tools
Traditional Mallorcan object
Words
canya, darrers dies, glosador, gloses, ximbomba, ximbomber
Events
1
zambomba
zambomba — Moltó Díaz, José Antonio, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/, Museum of Costume. Ethnological Heritage Research Centre (vía Europeana/CER.ES)

What is

Friction drum. A taut skin over the mouth of a container, crossed in the center by a canya. When you rub the cane with your wet hand, the skin vibrates and the container resonates: a low, repeated sound. In Mallorca it accompanies the glosses and cançons of Sant Antoni and winter. In the rest of the domain it is called simbomba.

How is

  • Box: a container with a round mouth: gerra, caduf, pot, cossiol, gerricó (Viquipèdia); ceramic, wood or today plastic. Open or perforated at the bottom.
  • Membrane: skin (hence the song "tea sa pell de ca"), stretched and tied to the neck of the container.
  • Canya: cane fixed to the center of the skin; sometimes a rope.
  • Very variable sizes (without verified measurements).

How is fa

Homemade object: a piece of clay is reused ( ceramic i gerreria ; cadufos and gerricons, see poal i cadufos ), the wet skin is tightened and tied, the cane is nailed. The song says it: "Vaig collir una canyeta per fer una ximbombeta" (DCVB). Builders or sellers: Mobles Bonnin (sa Pobla) sells ximbombes (directory; who makes them, check).

Com s'usa

  • Gesture: held under the arm or between the legs; the wet hand goes up and down the rod. Each pass, a serious blow.
  • When: Sant Antoni (January 16-17), around the foguerons; carnival and darrers dies; Christmas.
  • With what: improvised glosses and ximbomba cançons with their own tunes (recorded by Mn. Antoni Josep Pont for the DCVB).
  • Where: sa Pobla, Manacor, Artà, Capdepera, Pollença, especially.

Vocabulary

  • ximbomba: zambomba (Mall., Men.).
  • ximbombeta: small ximbomba.
  • ximbomber: who plays it (per verify usage).
  • gloses: improvised or popular sung verses.
  • glosador: who improvises them.
  • canya: rod that is rubbed.
  • darrers dies: the last days of carnival.
  • «Sa ximbomba ja no sona... perque té sa pell de ca i sa canya que no és bona»: copla (DCVB).

History

  • 19th century: appears in L'Ignorància along with the fobiol and the ferreguets (DCVB).
  • Principles s. XX: the DCVB describes it as a "molt primitiu" instrument that still uses the pagesia of Mallorca but that "tends to disappear."
  • Today: live in Sant Antoni; in sa Pobla, groups of ximbombers and glossadors in the square until late.

On veure'n

  • Sant Antoni in sa Pobla, Manacor, Artà (January 16-17).
  • Archive of So and Image : recordings of ximbomba songs (to verify funds).

Why is it design

  • Pure reuse: a broken jug, a piece of skin and a reed make an instrument.
  • Sound without tuning: it excludes no one; sustains the collective song.
  • Friction as a principle: another way to make a skin vibrate, without a drumstick.

For the project

  • Ximbombe construction workshop with pieces from a Marratxí pottery (cadufos, gerricons) before Sant Antoni.
  • Recording of glosses + ximbomba for the sound atlas.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ximbomba?

Friction drum. A taut skin over the mouth of a container, crossed in the center by a canya. When you rub the cane with your wet hand, the skin vibrates and…

What are the traditional words for Ximbomba?

Some words: canya, darrers dies, glosador, gloses, ximbomba, ximbomber, ximbombeta, «Sa ximbomba ja no sona... perque té sa pell de ca i sa canya que no és bona».

Sources

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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