conch (instrument)

File:Conque Magdalenienne de Marsoulas.jpg conch on display at MHNT (c. 12,000 BP)]]

Shell trumpets have been known since the Magdalenian period (Upper Paleolithic), one example being the "conch Marsoulas", an archeological Charonia lampas shell trumpet which is on display at the Museum de Toulouse. In Israel/Palestine, the [Charonia tritonis nodifera] conch trumpet dates from approximately the third millennium BC.

File:Conch-shell trumpet Tibet BM 1992 1214 16.jpg

The sacred chank, Turbinella pyrum, is known in India as the shankha (first mentioned in the Artharvaveda, c. 1000 BCE). In the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna blew the conch shell to announce the start and end of battles.Dutta, Madhumita (2008). Let's Know: Music and Musical Instruments of India, p.18. Star. {{ISBN|9781905863297}}. In Tibet it is known as dung-dkar or dungkar.{{cite magazine|last1=Clark|first1=Mitchell|year=1996|url=http://www.furious.com/perfect/shells.html|title=Some Basics on Shell Trumpets|magazine=Perfect Sound Forever|publisher=Furious|access-date=2009-08-13|archive-date=2013-10-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021010404/http://www.furious.com/perfect/shells.html|url-status=live}}

File:Codex Magliabecchi Aztec conch shell trumpeter quiquizoani.png conch shell trumpeter called quiquizoani {{IPA|nah|kikiˈsoani|}}.Nahuatl dictionary. (1997). Wired humanities project. Retrieved August 31, 2012, from [http://whp.uoregon.edu/dictionaries/nahuatl/index.lasso link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203034759/http://whp.uoregon.edu/dictionaries/nahuatl/index.lasso |date=2016-12-03 }} (mid-16th century)]]

Throughout Mesoamerican history, conch trumpets were used, often in a ritual context (see figure). In Ancient Maya art, such conches were often decorated with ancestral images; scenes painted on vases show hunters and hunting deities blowing the conch trumpet. Quechua (Inca descendants) and Warao still use the conch.Kuss, Malena (2010). Music in Latin America and the Caribbean, p.306. University of Texas. {{ISBN|9780292788404}}.

The Queen Conch Strombus gigas was, and sometimes still is, used as a trumpet in the West Indies and other parts of the Caribbean. The Arawak word ‘fotuto’ was used to describe this instrument, and is still used to this day to refer to conch horns, and analogously, to bullhorns.

File:Qing military conch.JPG (1644–1912) military conch]]

The Triton shell, also known as "Triton's trumpet" Charonia tritonis, is used as a trumpet in Korea and Japan. In Japan this kind of trumpet is known as the horagai, which spread across Asia with Buddhism (first mentioned during the Heian period (794–1185 CE)). Shingon Buddhist priests practice a ritual known as homa, which sometimes includes beating drums and blowing horagai.{{cite book|author=Stephen Grover Covell|title=Japanese Temple Buddhism: Worldliness in a Religion of Renunciation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=krxXMkPWP1QC |year=2005|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2856-1|pages=2–4}}{{cite book|author1=Paul Loren Swanson|author2=Clark Chilson|title=Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4vuHBV0FpIIC |year=2006|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3002-1|pages=240–242}} In Korea it is known as the nagak.

File:Putatara_11.jpg, in Te Papa]]

Charonia conch shell trumpets were historically used throughout Oceania, in countries such as Fiji. The shells are still blown in Fijian resorts as a performance for tourists. The Fijians also used the conch shell when the chief died: the chief's body would be brought down a special path and the conch would be played until the chief's body reached the end of the path. In New Zealand, a type of conch with a wooden mouthpiece called the pūtātara is the main instrument used to herald guests in traditional welcoming ceremonies.{{cite news|url=https://www.odt.co.nz/the-star/call-community-gather-powhiri|date=19 November 2020|title=Call for community to gather for powhiri|first=Brenda|last=Harwood|newspaper=The Star|access-date=15 September 2023|archive-date=15 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115063548/https://www.odt.co.nz/the-star/call-community-gather-powhiri|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://audioguides.aucklandmuseum.com/tours/1303369994/stops/974239550/index.html|website=Auckland War Memorial Museum|title=Taonga Puoro - Musical Instruments|access-date=2023-09-15|archive-date=2023-01-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123215403/http://audioguides.aucklandmuseum.com/tours/1303369994/stops/974239550/index.html|url-status=live}} In some Polynesian islands the conch is called "pu".

Australia appears to be the only locale in Oceania where conch shells were not used as a musical instrument, despite the widespread availability of shells.{{cite web | last = Hedley | first = C. |year = 1922 | title = How Savages Use Sea Shells | url= https://archive.org/details/australianmuseum1192123aust |access-date= 2010-03-23 |work=The Australian Museum Magazine, Vol. I | pages = 163–67 | via = Web Archive }}

Austronesian settlers to the island of Madagascar brought along their conch shell which eventually became the antsiva (in the west coast) or bankora which was blown customarily as part of ceremonies such as circumcisions and funerals.{{cite web|last=The Museum of Art and Archeology of the University of Antananarivo|title=Antsiva (marine conch)|url=http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Instruments/Anglais/maaua_c_txt08_en.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624051220/http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Instruments/Anglais/maaua_c_txt08_en.html|archive-date=June 24, 2010|access-date=November 26, 2010}} It was also incorporated into Merina royal regalia exclusively blown by male slaves to herald a royal's arrival, signalling mourning in time of death or even to mark battles.{{Citation|last=Schmidhoffer|first=August|title=The 2005 International Forum of Ethnomusicology in Taiwan|date=4–8 October 2005|contribution=Some Remarks on the Austronesian Background of Malagasy Music|contribution-url=http://www.scu.edu.tw/music/2005ifet/3e.pdf|place=Taipei|publisher=Soochow University, Taiwan|access-date=4 December 2021|archive-date=17 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717144756/http://www.scu.edu.tw/music/2005ifet/3e.pdf|url-status=live}}

Cragen Beca is a conch shell trumpet. It was blown to call the legendary character Rebecca and her ‘Daughters’ to action during the infamous Rebecca Riots in Carmarthenshire of the mid-19th century (1839 – 43).{{Cite web |date=2021-02-28 |title=Amdanon // About |url=https://cragenbeca.co.uk/amdanon-about/ |access-date=2023-08-05 |language=en |archive-date=2023-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805020706/https://cragenbeca.co.uk/amdanon-about/ |url-status=live }}

In Malta the instrument is called a bronja, colloquially known as tronga. The shell of a sea snail is modified, with a hole at one end, and when blown it creates a loud noise. The tronja was generally used to inform the people that the windmills on the islands are operating that day due to being a windy day, which allows the grain of wheat and other grains to be ground.{{cite journal|journal=L-Imnara |last=Lanfranco |first=G. |year=1983 |title=Tal-Mitħna tar-Riħ |url=http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/L-Imnara/L-Imnara.%2002(1983)2=7/08s.pdf |volume=2 |issue=2 |page=37 |publisher=Rivista tal-Għaqda Maltija tal-Folklor |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418143243/http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/L-Imnara/L-Imnara.%2002%281983%292%3D7/08s.pdf |archivedate=18 April 2017 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|last=Testa|first=Frank|url=http://www.schoolnet.gov.mt/history/F5/Kampanja/KaratteristiciFTesta.htm|title=L-Imtiehen|work=schoolnet.gov.mt|access-date=29 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418143330/http://www.schoolnet.gov.mt/history/F5/Kampanja/KaratteristiciFTesta.htm|archive-date=18 April 2017|url-status=dead}}

File:Steve Turre.jpg

Carlos Chávez uses the trombone as a substitute for the conch in his 1940 piece Xochipilli.Conklin, Dorothy Rice. 1995. "Percussion Instruments in Two Compositions by Carlos Chávez: Xochipilli: An Imagined Aztec Music (1940) and Chapultepec: Three Famous Mexican Pieces (1935)", p.60–61. DMA diss. Greensboro: University of North Carolina at Greensboro. American jazz trombonist Steve Turre also plays conches, in particular with his group Sanctified Shells.{{Cite web |url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=277 |title=Steve Turre's Sanctified Shells Band, from allaboutjazz.com, 2003-04-10 |date=10 April 2003 |access-date=2009-08-13 |archive-date=2009-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111222528/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=277 |url-status=live }} The group released its first, eponymous album in 1993."Steve Turre Sounds the Trumpet: Ah, Make that Trombone and Conch," by Bob Blumenthal, Boston Globe January 19, 1993; {{ISSN|0743-1791}}All Music Guide to Jazz

{{Space|3}}2nd ed., Michael Erlewine (ed.); {{OCLC|35201244}}

{{Space|3}}4th ed., Vladimir Bogdanov, Christopher J. Woodstra (born 1969), Stephen Thomas Erlewine (eds.) (1996); {{OCLC|50477109}}The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Barry Dean Kernfeld, Stanley Sadie

{{Space|3}}1st ed. (1988); {{OCLC|16804283}}

{{Space|3}}3rd imprent of 1st ed. (1994); {{OCLC|30516743}}

{{Space|3}}2nd ed. (2002); {{OCLC|46956628}}Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (Turre is in Vol. 6 of 6), Macmillan; Schirmer

{{Space|3}}9th ed, Laura Diane Kuhn (ed.) (born 1953) (2001); {{OCLC|44972043}}

An Indian conch, partially processed via an Echoplex delay, was featured prominently in the score for the film Alien (1979). Initially, composer Jerry Goldsmith used the conch during a scene depicting the extraterrestrial environment of a derelict spaceship. However, director Ridley Scott was so impressed by the eerie effect that he requested its use throughout the rest of the score, including during the main titles.Mike Matessino, CD-booklet Alien: Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Intrada (MAF 7102), 2007

Various conch shells performed by musician, Don Chilton are featured prominently throughout the soundtrack of the film Where the Crawdads Sing (2021) composed by Academy Award winning composer Mychael Danna.{{Cite web |last=Korpan |first=Andrew |date=2022-09-01 |title=Oscar-Winning Composer Mychael Danna Talks Creating a Sound Reminiscent of the North Carolina Marshes |url=https://coastalhousemedia.com/2022/09/01/mychael-danna-interview/ |access-date=2023-08-04 |website=Coastal House Media |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922083143/https://coastalhousemedia.com/2022/09/01/mychael-danna-interview/ |url-status=live }} Other film recording projects featuring Don Chilton's conch shell playing include work with Trevor Morris on Vikings Valhalla; Aiko Fukushima on Samurai Rabbit; Matt Koskenmaki on Survivor 44 - 47; and Trey Toy on Castlevania: Nocturne. {{Cite web |title=Don Chilton {{!}} Music Department, Composer, Director |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13471817/ |access-date=2024-11-05 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}

In the novel Lord of the Flies, a group of boys stranded on a desert island use a conch to summon each other for a meeting, and it is held during the meeting by whoever has permission to speak at the time. In the novel, it symbolises order, democracy and civilisation, and is smashed to pieces in the climax when the boys revert to savagery.{{citation |last=Reiff |first=Raychel Haugrud |title=William Golding: Lord of the Flies |page=93 |year=2010 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=978-0-7614-4700-9}}{{citation |last=Singh |first=Minnie |title=The Government of Boys: Golding's Lord of the Flies and Ballantyne's Coral Island |journal=Children's Literature |volume=25 |pages=205–213 |year=1997 |doi=10.1353/chl.0.0478 |s2cid=144319352| issn = 0092-8208 }}

{{Listen|filename=Conch_shell.ogg|title=Conch shell|description=Demonstration of the sound of a conch shell|format=Ogg|style=float:none; clear:none}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Conches (musical instruments)}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120415011945/http://www.trombone.org/articles/library/steveturre-mc.asp Masterclass with Steve Turre: Making Music with Shells]
• [http://tangentedgeinstruments.com/products/sea-trumpets/ "Sea Trumpets" for software samplers Kontakt or Sforzando]

{{Natural horns}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Mollusc shells

Category:Natural horns and trumpets

Category:Sacred musical instruments

es:Bucio