Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Nias.

See Indonesia, §VI.

Nibbio, Stefano Venturi del.

See Venturi del Nibbio, Stefano.

Niblock, Phill

(b Anderson, IN, 2 Oct 1933). American composer and multimedia artist. He graduated from Indiana University in 1956 with a degree in economics. After taking up photography, he moved to New York. He joined the Experimental Intermedia Foundation in 1968 (director from 1985) and was appointed to teach film, video and photography at the College of Staten Island, CUNY in 1971. An important early musical influence was Morton Feldman, but the seed of his musical invention was most firmly planted in the mid-1960s when he rode a motorcycle up a hill behind a large truck and was mesmerized by ‘the strong physical presence of the beats resulting from the two engines running at slightly different frequencies’. That experience inspired him to compose music in which loud sustained tones blend and collide, creating almost physically tangible sound. During the 1970s and 80s he constructed pieces by recording instrumentalists playing pitches chosen for their potential to create beats and difference tones, editing and looping these recordings so the sounds had no apparent start or finish, and layering the edited versions over each other. In live performances of his works, musicians move slowly through the concert space, playing sustained tones that interact with recordings. In 1990 he began using digital samplers to create textures of up to 50 layers. His music has frequently been performed during showings of his films.

WORKS

(selective list)

all for tape; sources of sounds given in brackets

Tenor, 1970 [t sax]; Str Qt, 1972; Quarterbone, 1973 [trbn]; 3 to 7 – 196, for Vc, 1974; Contrabassoon & Contrabass, 1975; First Performance, 1975 [eng hn]; Vc and Bn, 1975; 261.63 – and –, 1976 [eng hn, vn, b fl, vc]; Long Distance, 1976 [vc]; Descent, 1977 [vc]; Harm, 1977 [harmonica]; 12 Tones, 1977 [db]; Who Can Think of Good, Cute Titles for Every Tune, 1977 [cl]; 4 Arthurs, 1978 [bn]; E for Gibson, 1978 [vc]; 2 Octaves & a Fifth, 1978 [ob]; Timps in E, 1978; Winterbloom, 1978 [b fl]; A Third Trbn, 1979; V & V, 1979 [1v, vn]; Fall and Winterbloom, 1980 [b fl]; Multimusti, 1980 [fl, trbn, db, ob]; B Poore, 1981 [tuba]; Summing I, II, III, IV, 1981 [vc]; Unbridled, 1981 [vc]; According to Guy, accdn [3 versions]; Early Winter, 8 b fl, synth; other works

BIBLIOGRAPHY

G. Gronemeyer: ‘Ein radikaler Minimalist: ein Porträt des amerikanischen Klang-technikers Phil Niblock’, MusikTexte, no.12 (1985), 14–17

A. Stidfole: ‘That's Your Problem, Not Mine’, Ear, ix/5–x/1 (1985), 20 [interview]

GREGORY SANDOW (text, bibliography), JOHN ROCKWELL (work-list)

Nicaragua

(Sp. República de Nicaragua).

Country in Central America. It is the largest of the Central American republics (130,000 sq. km) and encompasses two broad cultural areas, the Atlantic and Caribbean coasts. It is bounded in the north by Honduras, east by the Caribbean, south by Costa Rica and west by the Pacific. 90% of the estimated population of four and a half million live on the western, Pacific Coast region.

I. Historical background

II. Art music

III. Traditional and popular musics

BIBLIOGRAPHY

T.M. SCRUGGS

Nicaragua

I. Historical background

Archaeological findings and descriptions by cronistas, early Spanish writers, are the primary sources for musical practices before sustained European contact. Both are almost entirely restricted to the southern lowlands of the Pacific Coastal zone. The archaeological record indicates two major migrations from central Mexico, that of the Chorotegas, a Mangue-speaking group, and the Nahuatl-speaking Nicarao. Less definite is the place of origin or time of arrival of the smaller Matagalpan group dispersed in the central highland region, which may be of South American origin. Throughout the lowland region, archaeologists have found small tubular and globular duct flutes in different sizes and with a variety of numbers of holes and tunings. In 1523, the Nicarao chieftain Diriangén provided a performance of an ensemble of five flute players for the Spanish conquistador Gil González Dávila before later forcing him back to Costa Rica. Both Chorotegan and Nahuatl communities marked the ending of each calendar year and other occasions with large-scale celebrations that included musical accompaniment for thousands of costumed dancers. In 1540, Giralmo Benzoni witnessed such a large celebration and described the musical instruments as trumpets (excoletes), flutes made from both reeds and clay, drums and whistles. He also mentioned chilchil, which he termed small bells, similar to chischiles, the current name for small bells sewn onto dancers' shoes in several folkdances. Also present in parts of the Pacific Coast was the teponaztli, a slit-drum found among Nahuatl-speaking peoples in central Mexico, whence the Nahuatl speakers in Nicaragua originally emigrated; it has long been extinct.

Earthquakes and social upheavals have nearly obliterated such documentation as might have existed of the nation's earlier musical history. In comparison to Guatemala and other larger Spanish colonies, institutionally supported musical activity in colonial Nicaragua was probably at a low level considering the province's lack of strategic importance and economic activity. Colonial documents record a steady payment to priests for masses and other religious services that no doubt required musical performance. Several references establish the penetration of Spanish instruments throughout the Pacific Coast. Colonial writings also attest some retention of pre-European musical practices among the Indian communities that were experiencing increasingly mestizo acculturation. From the late 1850s American travellers, crossing the isthmus to California, provide summary descriptions of several folk music traditions still practised today. The remaining cultural autonomy of indigenous enclaves on the Pacific Coast became severely eroded with the introduction of intensive coffee cultivation in the late 19th century.

There are no musical instruments that can be definitively traced as pre-European survivals, though several percussion instruments share a similarity both with 16th-century descriptions of indigenous instruments and Spanish ones. Examples of this potential double origin are vertical flutes and the tambor, a medium-sized, two-headed drum still found in some indigenous enclaves.

The contemporary population of the Pacific Coast is overwhelmingly mestizo, a mixture of indigenous American and European peoples and cultures. Beginning in 1524, the rapid subjugation and near destruction of the Nahuatl and Chorotegan peoples allowed for subsequent pervasive Spanish acculturation. Even the isolated pockets of indigenous communities on the Pacific Coast have all suffered strong mestizo influences. During the colonial period, Africans were brought to replace the exhausted indigenous population for agricultural and mining work. The mixture of this relatively small proportion of African blood in some sections of the Pacific Coast has so thoroughly blended into the general population that presently it is not generally recognized as part of the national make-up, and in fact no African musical stylistic retentions are identifiable. Nicaragua's majority culture, then, forms one part of the general mestizo Pacific Coast culture of Central America that runs from southern Guatemala through the Costa Rica meseta central.

Nicaragua