Tautirut
Encyclopedia
The tautirut is a bowed zither
native to the Inuit
culture of Canada
.
The Canadian anthropologist Ernest William Hawkes described the tautirut in 1916:
"It consists of a rude box, with a square hole in the top, three sinew strings with bridge and tail-piece and a short bow with a whalebone strip for hair. . . . Most Eskimo fiddles have only one string."
are among the few First Nations
chordophones which may possibly be pre-Columbian
in origin. Ethnomusicologist Anthony Baines
and others have noted the similarity of the tautirut to the Icelandic fiðla
and Shetland gue
.
Peter Cooke believed that the tautiruts limited distribution around the Hudson Bay area indicated that it was introduced to the Inuit by Hudson's Bay Company
sailors from the Orkney and Shetland Islands
.
Zither
The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary citera, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China...
native to the Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
culture of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
The Canadian anthropologist Ernest William Hawkes described the tautirut in 1916:
"It consists of a rude box, with a square hole in the top, three sinew strings with bridge and tail-piece and a short bow with a whalebone strip for hair. . . . Most Eskimo fiddles have only one string."
Origin
The tautirut, along with the Apache fiddleApache fiddle
The Apache fiddle is a bowed string instrument used by the indigenous Apache people of the southwestern United States.The Apache fiddle consists of a plant stalk, such as that of the agave or mescal plant...
are among the few First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
chordophones which may possibly be pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
in origin. Ethnomusicologist Anthony Baines
Anthony Baines
Anthony Cuthbert Baines was an English organologist who produced a wide variety of works on the history of musical instruments, and was a founding member of the Galpin Society.-Partial bibliography:...
and others have noted the similarity of the tautirut to the Icelandic fiðla
Fiðla
The fiðla is a traditional Icelandic musical instrument, consisting of a box zither with two bowed strings. The strings pass over a bridge near the playing end of the instrument, and are tuned at the other end by two tuning pegs.-Similar instruments:...
and Shetland gue
Gue
The gue is an extinct type of two-stringed bowed lyre or zither from the Shetland Isles. Now extinct, the instrument was alive as recently as 1809, and was described in the writings of Sir Arthur Edmondstone....
.
Peter Cooke believed that the tautiruts limited distribution around the Hudson Bay area indicated that it was introduced to the Inuit by Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
sailors from the Orkney and Shetland Islands
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
.
External links
- Tautirut in the collection of the Faculté de musique, Université de MontréalUniversité de MontréalThe Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...
Further reading
- Hawe's Eskimo Music in:
- E. Y. Arima and M. Einarsson. Whence and Where the Eskimo Fiddle?. Folk, vol 18 1976
- The academics Maija Lutz and Susan Kaplan have been noted as having studied the Eskimo fiddle.