:: Wind musical instrument - Chiboni
Wind musical instrument - Chiboni
Chiboni is a Georgian wind instrument very like to European Bagpipe. It is widespread instrument in west region of Georgia - Adjaria. Only dance melodies are performed on Chiboni. It is mainly played with accompaniment of Panduri, Chonguri or Doli. Usually, men play this instrument.
Chiboni is made up of two main parts - a leather bag(1) and the pipes that are fixed in horn(2). The leather bag is made of sheep or calf skin. There is a small wooden vent-pipe (3) fixed on one side of the bag. It is used for blowing air into the bag and as well has a function of valve.
On the other side of the bag there is a horn attached into the bag, in which two wooden pipes of equal length and thickness are placed - a leader and a bass(4). The left one called Bass pipe has three front keys; The right one called Leader pipe has five keys. Three keys of the right pipe are placed symmetrically below the three keys of the left pipe. But there are cases when the pipes are vice versa layout. It depends on the player, if he used to hold instrument on right-hand or left-hand. Unlike Gudastviri, Chiboni isn’t put into the velvet material (bag).
The Adjarian Chiboni has a diatonic scale. It produces two-part chords and two-part tunes. The two part sounding are produced by the simultaneous playing of both pipes. The range of notes of a chiboni is major sixth.
So, the reed pipes are fixed inside the horn. The horn is made of Caucasian goat or bull horn. Chiboni is kept in a cool place. The five holes of the left reed pipe emit notes of the first octave: F, E, D, C, H, A, G; the three keys of the right one emit deep-voiced notes: C, H, A, G.
Tuning of the Adjarian chiboni:
Pipe I: e1 – fis1 - g1 – a1 – h1 – cis2.
Pipe II: e1 – fis1 - g1 – a1.
Among the kinds of Georgian Bagpipes, the most perfected is Adjarian “Chiboni”. As for the Gudastviri of Pshavi, it belongs to the earlier level of development as it has only one key on the deep-voiced reed-pipe that proves instrument’s ancient origin.
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