| Description |
This string figure represents tepuŋ ‘a side-blown trumpet’.
Such a trumpet can either be made of bamboo or of wood, or can even be a conch-shell (the Awiakay used to have a shell trumpet, probably obtained through trading or by one of the men bringing it back from their work on a plantation in the Rabaul area, but it was broken, and there are currently none in the village). The name tepuŋ is used of the instrument based on how it is played, rather than on what it is made from. That is why there is slight confusion when the Awiakay translate tepuŋ into Tok Pisin: sometimes it is called mambu 'bamboo' (like the bamboo flutes) and sometimes kina wusil (Among the Awiakay, the TP word kina, originally referring to large mother-of-pearl shell, is extended to all shells, and TP wusil 'whistle' is just an approximate translation of Awiakay upiak- which refers to all types of blowing (into something, including an instrument).
Tepuŋ is side-blown, because there is a hole on the side of the instrument (rather than at the end) into which the player blows and vibrates his lips. This vibrating of lips makes it a trumpet and not a flute where the player would direct a stream of air against an edge (Don Niles, personal communication by email, 5 June 2020). Although tepuŋ is always played by men, there are no prohibitions on women and girls doing it as part of the make-believe of string figure-making. In the Middle Sepik large wooden side-blown trumpets used to be blown for fighting, or head-hunting or both. For a variety of side-blown trumpets in Papua New Guinea, see Niles (in prep.).
In the video recording of this string figure we can see that when Munbaŋgoapik first starts to blow (1:01) she makes a higher pitch sound and then giggles, and then repeats this, giggling again. But when she stops giggling (1:10), she makes a lower pitch sound a few times. That lower pitch sounds much more like a trumpet, So, this girl actually does a fine job, indicating that even women who do not play instruments, know exactly what they should sound like. Of course, she eventually starts giggling again, but every time she goes back to making the sound it is the lower, sustained sound, typical of a trumpet. It is much harder to get different pitches out of such instruments when they are played as a trumpet, than that can be done with a flute (Don Niles, pers. com. by email, 5 June 2020).
Images:
02: tepuŋ ‘side-blown trumpet’, final design
03: Darja Munbaŋgoapik demonstrating blowing into tepuŋ ‘side-blown trumpet’
04: Justin Taypay with a wooden tepuŋ ‘side-blown trumpet’
04: Stenli Pamuapan with a bamboo tepuŋ ‘side-blown trumpet’
Niles, Don. In preparation. Visual Guide to the Musical Instruments of Papua New Guinea.
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