Belembaotuyan

The belembaotuyan is a musical bow played in Guam, also spelled belumbaotuyan, belenbaotuchan, and belimbau-tuyan. This gourd-resonating musical bow likely has common roots with the Brazilian berimbau, due to constant trade between Asia and South America in the nineteenth century, during which the instrument may have been introduced to the Chamorro people.

Description

The belembaotuyan has traditionally been part of wedding and other ceremonies in Guam, such as the Chamorro Month celebrations in schools, though it has lost popularity in recent times.

The name of the instrument comes from the words belembao ('swaying of the trees' in Chamorro) and tuyan (Chamorro for 'stomach'). Siimlar to other gourd-resonating musical bows, such as the berimbau or hungu, the gourd can be made to resonate by pressing it against one's stomach cavity and the player can create a vibrato by moving the gourd towards and away their body.

Construction

It is made by attaching a string to a long flat wooden stick, on top of which is a resonating gourd. The string is usually made of metal wire or hard string, and similar material is used to keep the resonating gourd in place, stopping the string which allows to produce two pitches (lower and higher) by hitting the longer or shorter sides of the stopped string respectively. At the ends of the wooden stick are placed seashells in order to produce a clearer sound. The length of the wooden stick can be between 4 ft (1.2m) and 9 ft (2.7m) long.