The Livika, also known as lunut, lounut, lounot, loanuat, lounuet, and also referred to as lounuat and kulepa ganez, kulepaganeg, is a friction woodblock or a friction idiophone. It is found in the Malanggan cultural region on the island of New Ireland, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Carved from a single wooden block, it features three tongues that produce clear, high-pitched tones when stroked. In the past, this instrument was utilized for religious ceremonies, and featured primarily in the mourning ritual for the deceased, its shrill cries representing either a spiritual voice or bird call.
Distribution The island of New Ireland, situated in Melanesia, stretches over a narrow strip of about 350 kilometers from northwest to southeast between the 2nd and 5th latitudes. It is known for its Malagan ceremonies, which are large, intricate traditional cultural and funeral events that take place in parts of the island. Malangan serves as an overarching term encompassing traditional artistic creations (the style and the created objects) and the associated cult practices consisting of rituals and celebrations, specifically funeral rites. The lounuat represents a small aspect of the highly diverse wood carvings in the Malanggan style, which include standing figures (totok), two to five-meter-high statues carved from a single trunk, horizontal friezes, relief boards, animal figures, and dance masks. The Malanggan culture is confined to the northern regions of New Ireland up to the 3rd latitude, including the smaller islands of Lavongai, Dyaul, and the Tabar Island group.Waldemar Stöhr, 1987, p. 154
Augustin Kraemer (1865–1941), who extensively explored the South Seas around the turn of the century and published a book in 1925 titled Die Malanggane von Tombara (The Malanggane of Tombara), believed that the Lelet mountain region in the northern central area of New Ireland was the homeland of the lounuat. However, this assertion has not been definitively proven. In the title, by using the geographical name "Tombara," Krämer incorrectly refers to the island otherwise known at that time as Neumecklenburg, which likely stems from a misunderstanding because when questioned by Europeans, the locals responded with the word taubar, which actually means "southeast trade winds."Gerhard Peekel: The Ancestral Images of North New Mecklenburg. A Critical and Positive Study. In: Anthropos, Volume 21, Issue 5/6, September–December 1926, pp. 806–824, here p. 807 Krämer referred to the friction woodblock by the name livika, derived from vika, a term in the Oceanic language of the island's center meaning "bird" or a particular bird. Researchers at that time found that lounuat were primarily produced in a few villages in the Lelet mountains and also in the village of Hamba, located a few kilometers north in the Malanggan region.Hermann Justus Braunholtz: An Ancestral Figure from New Ireland. In: Man, No. 148, December 1927, pp. 217–219, here p. 218
Construction
Friction idiophones form a rare group within the realm of idiophones ("self-sounding instruments"), which are set into vibration not by striking but by stroking over a smooth surface with the hand or an object. In Europe, this includes the Nail Violin, a melodic instrument where variously long iron nails are bowed with a violin bow. In America, this includes the Glass Harmonica or the musical wineglasses, which produce clear sinusoidal pitches when rubbed with moistened fingers. The Hornbostel–Sachs classification system defines the category for friction idiophones (133); the lounuat belongs in this group. Other friction vessels include the turtle shells used in rituals in Central and South America in the past. A part of the shell is smeared with resin or beeswax, and when the player strokes it with a finger or a stick, it produces a squeaking tone.Edgardo Civallero: Turtle shells in traditional Latin American music. Wayrachaki editora, Bogota 2021, pp. 1–30
The early descriptions of the lounuat are partially erroneous, and some have been uncritically adopted by later authors. Franz Hernsheim (1845–1909), one of the earliest entrepreneurs in German South Sea trade and the German consul in Jaluit, wrote in his published Südsee-Erinnerungen (1875–1880) (South Seas Memories (1875–1880)) in 1883 about the lounuat:Franz Hernsheim: Südsee-Erinnerungen (1875–1880). A. Hofmann & Comp., Berlin 1883, p. 106
The description is accurate; however, Hernsheim apparently confused the size with the slit drum, as such a long lounuat could not be operated by one person. The ethnologist Otto Finsch pointed out this confusion in 1914.Otto Finsch: Südseearbeiten: Gewerbe- und Kunstfleiss, Tauschmittel und „Geld“ der Eingeborenen auf Grundlage der Rohstoffe und der geographischen Verbreitung. L. Friederichsen & Co., Hamburg 1914, p. 542, footnote 3 In the catalog of the collection of the Natural History Museum Vienna from 1893, Finsch describes a lounuat under the name kulegaganeg, which consists of a gently rounded soft wood measuring 40 centimeters in length and 14 centimeters in width. Finsch states the typical length as 35 to 45 centimeters, with the smallest museum specimen being a 16-centimeter-long example.Otto Finsch: Ethnologische Erfahrungen und Belegstücke aus der Südsee. Beschreibender Katalog einer Sammlung im K.K. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseum in Wien. Alfred Hölder, Vienna 1893, pp. 58, 637
Slit drums made from tree trunks, such as the garamut used in Papua New Guinea, are widespread in Melanesia and consist of several-meter-long tree trunks slit and hollowed out on one side. On New Ireland, they are ritually played by two men with long poles. A lounuat mentioned by Paul Collaer (1974) from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels is 50 centimeters long, 16 centimeters wide, and 21 centimeters high.Paul Collaer: Oceania. In: Heinrich Besseler, Max Schneider (Eds.): History of Music in Pictures. Volume I: Music Ethnology. Delivery 1. 2nd edition. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1974, p. 104 The three tongues are not rubbed with moist hands or, as Collaer indicates and Hans Oesch mistakenly adopts in the New Handbook of Musicology (1987),Hans Oesch: Non-European Music. Part 2. (Carl Dahlhaus, Hermann Danuser (Eds.): New Handbook of Musicology, Volume 9) Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1987, p. 369 rubbed with palm oil, as this would prevent friction and thus tone production, but with a resin sap from suitable trees such as the Papaya tree or the Breadfruit tree. This method of sound production is accurately depicted in a catalog from the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1914. The instrument listed there under the name kulepa ganez is 40 centimeters long, 13 centimeters wide, and 25 centimeters high.Frances Morris: Catalogue of the Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments. Volume 2: Oceania and America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1914, p. 44 Some lounuat are mentioned in the literature with actually four or five wooden tongues. In contrast, there are no instruments known with only two tongues, even though Jaap Kunst (1931) describes the listed "rubbing instrument" in this way. The accompanying illustration shows a typical lounuat with three tongues.Jaap Kunst: A Study on Papuan Music. The Netherlands East Indies Committee for Scientific Research, Weltevreden 1931; reprint in: Music in New Guinea. Three Studies. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague 1967, p. 43, Fig. 17 on p. 60
Augustin Krämer (1925) describes the lounuat as a "grinding drum" and interprets a bird shape into the entire form: "The beak side, therefore the underside, has three tongues, of which the two middle ones can be interpreted as legs, and the last one as a retracted tail."Augustin Krämer, 1925, p. 56 The approximately oval or egg-shaped outer form with its characteristic three incisions from the side also prompted other authors to interpretations. For example, Paul Collaer (1974) recognizes the shape of an animal: pangolin, anteater, or bird. A concise description is given by Hans Fischer (1958):
Despite all derivations of names from birds and corresponding interpretations, it is hardly possible to recognize a bird shape in this particular form. Some authors observed further animals such as a turtle or a pig lying on its back with a trunk, two pairs of legs, and a tail in the friction wood.Curt Sachs considers a symbolic relationship of the lounuat to the pig instead of the hornbill more likely because of the pig feast during the funeral ritual, see: Curt Sachs: Geist und Werden der Musikinstrumente. (Berlin 1928) Reprint: Frits A. M. Knuf, Hilversum 1965, p. 90f, s.v. “Friction wood”
The production of the Livika was subject to similar rules as with the Malanggan figures and took place in secret outside the village, which is why there are no reports on the production process and the tools used. According to the outer form, the cavities are carved out and smoothed. Only then are the tongues exposed through a cut. Now the first acoustic test can take place. Further processing of the tongues serves to achieve the desired sound. The woodcarvers themselves were subject to certain behaviors and dietary regulations during production. In the beginning, students had to observe for a specified period and then precisely mimic the working method of their master.Gerald Florian Messner, 1980, pp. 250–252
Sound Characteristics
The Livika is tuned relatively. The pitches of the three tongues were likely different regionally. Tunings and intervals mentioned in the literature are always approximations; they are not associated with tonal triads. Vocal music in the Malanggan region does not include triads. Often, the upper interval is larger than the lower one.Gerald Florian Messner, 1980, p. 257
Vibrations in friction idiophones, like in string instruments, are generated by the stick-slip effect. Slight fluctuations in pitch may occur when a tongue is rubbed precisely in the middle or slightly to the side, or depending upon what base the instrument rests. Immediately after rubbing, it is very loud and sharp in medium and large instruments, consisting almost exclusively of the fundamental pitch. Medium-sized instruments have been described as "melodic" or "bright-sounding," while large ones are described as "melodic" or "strange, eerily dark-sounding." Small friction blocks (12–20 centimeters long) produce a squeaking, scream-like sound enriched with rubbing noises. The fundamental pitch is overlaid with non-harmonic tones, yet a specific pitch is still perceptible in small instruments. The overall sound of a group of Lounuat players was influenced by the use of instruments of all three sizes and the different frequencies and intervals of the individual instruments.Gerald Florian Messner, 1980, pp. 275f, 295, 310
When Gerald Florian Messner conducted field research on New Ireland in the late 1970s, Lounuats were still occasionally made, but not executed correctly, rendering them unplayable. Frequency measurements in the laboratory showed that the rubbed and struck tongues produced almost the same pitches. Besides the fundamental pitch, these were the first overtones.Rolf Bader, 2016, p. 3
Names