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Guy Mendilow band Guy
Mendilow band
Inventive World Music & Outreach


3262 34
th
St. Astoria, NY 11106 | Tel. 718-956-9482 | Fax 718- 956-0901
Email soulonline@commcom.com | www.commcom.com
1
Instrumentation
Some of our more unusual INSTRUMENTATION

V
ocals & Overtone Singing (Guy Mendilow): Overtone singing
permits one singer to produce two or more voices at the same time. There
are various techniques of overtone singing found in different parts of the
world, some of the most prominent including the Tuvan throat singing
styles collectively called Khoomei and Tibetan monastic chanting. Unlike
these styles, the overtone singing Guy practices is not intrinsically linked to
any one culture and is found in Mongolia, Europe and even the 1920s
cowboy songs of the American Arthur Miles. To distinguish it from other
overtone singing styles, it has sometimes been called Western Overtone
Singing. Western Overtone Singing also differs technically: Whereas the
Tuvan and Tibetan styles rely on false vocal flaps in the throat, Western
Overtone Singing is produced with the oral cavity and breath. When done correctly, the lower voice sings a
drone or bass line, and a seemingly independent whistle-like voice sings melodies above.




B
erimbau (Guy Mendilow): Berimbau da Barriga (jaw harp of the
stomach) was the Portuguese name given to this musical bow brought to
Brazil by African slaves and found in indigenous communities already in
the land. It is one in a long list of names. Nearly all cultures that have
used bows and arrows have also adapted them for musical purposes, and
musical bows are found worldwide, from Mexico and Patagonia to South
Africa, Angola and Camaroon, from India and Nepal to Japan and
Greece. The Brazilian bow is made from Biriba wood. The string
comes from the inside of a car tire. A dried and cleaned out gourd is tied
around the string and bow to amplify the sound. The right hand strikes the string with a stick while
simultaneously playing a shaker called caxixi. The left hand presses a coin or stone against the string to change
the pitch. (N. Scott Robinson) Guys berimbau sounds quite different from typical berimbaus because of
several modifications including alternate tuning and amplification techniques that permit the sounds of a full
percussion kit including snare, high hat and bass drum hits.





E
lectric Mbira (Andy Bergman): The traditional Mbira is an African "thumb
piano" strongly rooted with the Shona people of Zimbabwe. There are also many
similar instruments throughout Africa (e.g. sanzhi, likembe, and kalimba). The
instrument is typically made from a flat piece of wood with hammered nails for
tongs and a resonator often made of a gourd. For amplification, this electric version Guy
Mendilow band
Inventive World Music & Outreach


3262 34
th
St. Astoria, NY 11106 | Tel. 718-956-9482 | Fax 718- 956-0901
Email soulonline@commcom.com | www.commcom.com
2
Instrumentation
forgoes the traditional resonating body for an electric pickup, much like an electric guitar.

J
aw harp (Andy Bergman): The Jaw harp is an ancient instrument type
found in over one hundred cultures worldwide. It has at as many names
including the Jew's Harp, Trump (Scotland), Kha-rnga (Tibet), Vargan
(Russia) Munnharpa (Norway). The jaw harp has a rich history in both
religious and secular music and is typically constructed with metals or
bamboo.




B
amboo Flute (Andy Bergman): Bamboo flutes have been common
wherever bamboo grows naturally, most notably Asia (e.g. China, Japan,
Vietnam, Cambodia). The contemporary bamboo flute used in the band is
constructed in a style more similar to Native American flutes than East
Asian ones, but it retains the distinctive sound qualities of bamboo.
Bamboo is especially well-suited as a flute material due to its inherent
durability, lightness, hollowness, and ease of cultivation. Yet flutes are,
generally, such a basic instrument type that almost every available sturdy
material has been used around the world to make them, a trait that has enabled them to survive long after
instruments made of softer organic materials (e.g. wood) have deteriorated. The oldest playable instrument in
the world, for example, is a 9,000 year-old flute of hollowed bird bone found in Henan province, China.




A
few of our other instruments:



Percussion: Rich, Guy, Andy, Tomoko
Tenor Sax: Andy
Guitars: Guy
Soprano Sax: Andy