423.121.22 End blown labrosones with curved or folded tubes with mouthpiece

Narsinga, horn.

This long, slender narsinga was played in Gorkha and is from the Gorkha pancai baja tradition. ‘The central Nepalese instrument is tuned to an approximate E-flat, although some examples have been found to be as much as a semitone higher…the following notes of the harmonic series are available: h6’[=B-flat4] ‘h7’[=D-flat5] ‘h8’[=E-flat5] ‘h9’[=F5].' Carol Tingey. 'Auspicious music in a changing society: the Damai musicians of Nepal' (1994), p. 61. The horn is played using circular breathing. There are colour slides, sound recordings and a monochrome image of similar narsingas from Nepal in the British Library. These audio visual materials were created by Carol Tingey when she was working in the country in the 1980s. (BL reference: Carol Tingey: Reel no. 1/Image 17/Date 1987-04-19/Musicians from Gorkha with C-shaped narsingas. Colour slides 063-073. Sound tape 17, Side A)

object
MUSEUM NUMBER
2019.124.1
Date
1987
PLACE
COLLECTION
MEASUREMENTS
diameter of bore at the bell: 81 mm; external diameter of bell: 132 mm; sounding length: 2040 mm
CATEGORY
Musical Instruments
LOCATION
In storage
SHAREABLE LINK

Continue exploring musical instruments

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database retains language taken from historical documents to help research. Please note that some records may feature language and reflect systems of thinking that are outdated and offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections, can suggest corrections to our information or if you see content requiring immediate action, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk