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Name: Itotele Alternate Name(s): omele(Yoruba/Lucumí);elsegundo(Spanish);batá Geographic Region: Caribbean Country of origin: Cuba Subregion: Havana and Matanzas Climatic type: Tropical Classification: Membranophone Material: Related Web Sites: |
Physical Description The itótele is the medium-sized of the three batá drums, all of which are double-headed membranophones with an asymmetrical hourglass shape. The batás have wooden shells, either carved from one piece of wood (traditional style), or assembled from slats of wood. Like all three drums of the trio, the itótele has a larger head (enú), which produces a more melodic sound, and a smaller head (chachá) which produces a more percussive, less clearly-pitched sound. History See under Notation for Cuba: Batá Drumming Tuning See under Tuning for Cuba: Batá Drumming Playing Technique The player rests the drum across his/her lap, and may use a strap attached to each end of the instrument to keep it stationary while playing. The player strikes the itótele's enú ("mouth" in Yoruba/Lucumí, the larger head) with one hand, and its chachá (a word for the sounds produced by that head) with the other. The hand technique used, and the resulting sound in each case is distinct. The enú is struck with a flat hand (with fingers fully, or close to fully, on the drum) to produce either a sustained "open tone" with a clear pitch, or a "closed tone" (also called "mute" or "muff"), which comes from pressing the hand against the drumhead. The chachá is struck using the fingertips and a whip-like motion of the wrist in order to produce a "slap tone," a high, cracking sound. Notation See under Notation for Cuba: Batá Drumming Role in the Ensemble The itótele is in the role of responder within the batá ensemble. Some players therefore consider it the most difficult of the three to play, since one must be ready to start, stop, change, and improvise (within stylistic limits) at less than a moment's notice, depending on signals given by the iyá player. Along with the enú of the iyá (mother/lead drum), the itótele's enú co-creates the speech/song melodies characteristic of the batá ensemble. The itótele's chachá, and both heads of the okónkolo, generate the composite rhythmic frameworks of the dozens of rhythms of the Cuban batá repertoire. Performance Context See under Performance Context for Cuba: Batá Drumming References See under References for Cuba: Batá Drumming Last Modified: 29-Nov-2005 TOP |
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