History of Primitive and Non-Western Trumpets - Asia

Asia

The dung is the long monastic trumpet of Tibet; it is similar to, and probably derives from, straight trumpets depicted in 13th-century Arabic and Persian manuscripts. The dung is a straight, end-blown trumpet with a conical bore; it is made of copper or brass and has a separate mouthpiece. It varies in length from about 60 cm (the medium-sized rag-dun) to as much as 5 m (the telescopic dung-chen). In musical ensembles, two such instruments blown in alternation provide a continuous drone, which is sustained beneath the woodwind and percussion.

The dung-chen can also be found in the northern hills of Laddakh in India and in Bhutan, where it is known by the name thunchen. This ceremonial instrument is used to accompany ritual dances. Nearly three metres long, it is made of copper and decorated with silver. The thunchen is generally employed in pairs; the trumpeters, known as thunchen pa, announce the commencement of ceremonies from the gamba, or temple, and also accompany ritual dances. The length and weight of thunchen make it extremely unwieldy; so the flared end is rested on the ground or a special stand, or is supported on the shoulders of another monk.

Possibly related to the Tibetan dung is the tirucinnam, a straight trumpet still found in Tamil Nadu in southern India. Usually a pair of these long, slender instruments are blown together; until a few decades ago it was standard practice for one musician to play both of them simultaneously, which seems to have been the case also in Nepal. A double trumpet of this type is depicted on a relief in Chandi Jawri, Indonesia, dated to 1300 CE. The tirucinnam is about 75 cm long and has a wide cylindrical bore; it has a narrow conical bell but no mouthpiece (to facilitate the simultaneous blowing of two instruments).

The Chinese too had a long clyindrical metal trumpet known as hao t’ung (or, in Japanese, dokaku), which may have been related to the foregoing instruments. In place of a bell, the hao t’ung had a long, broad cylinder made of wood, iron or brass, into which the rest of the instrument could be telescoped when not in use; the hao t’ung was played with the bell end resting on the ground. The ordinary Chinese trumpet was the la pa (rapa in Japanese). This came from Mongolia, where it was called the rapal. It had a narrow, conical bore and consisted of two or three sections which telescoped into each other. (Chinese sources record the use of trumpets on the battlefield by the Huns, or Xiongnu, in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE.)